Protector of the Fairies
by Takei Daloui
Summary: Fairy Tail. They protect their own. They stick together and fight together. Not everyone believes in the same path though. One man will decide his own path in the world, and it will lead him to the path he is destined for. He will become the strongest. He will become their shield and he will become their sword. He will become the Protector of the Fairies.
1. Fairy Festival

The first chapter of my new story is here. You asked for it in the vote and I delivered it. It's part of the reason I was delayed with the new "Of Darkness and Light" chapter.

I won't leave you here reading this. Let's get straight to it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or Bleach. Shame, it would be great if I did.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

**Fairy Festival**

Makarov Dreyar was very small for his age. He stood at a height that made a child look tall, and he was very old. Eighty eight years of age to be exact. He was a very friendly person who viewed all the members of the guild he was in as his family. He was also the Third Guild Master of that same guild, the Fairy Tail Guild.

And he was proud of it. He was currently dressed in less formal clothes than he would sometimes, simply wearing black trousers along with a white shirt with a red vest over it. A high collared cape was over the attire with the mark of Fairy Tail present on the back of it.

Right now though, the man was simply furious. There was no other way to describe his anger.

The only way to understand why though was to look back on what was happening. Because it all revolved around one man currently. His grandson.

Fairy Tail was found in the city of Magnolia. With a population of over sixty thousand, it was a busy place. At this time of the year though, there were thousands more. People from all over had come to Magnolia for one purpose. They wanted to see the Fantasia Parade.

It was a yearly event held by the guild, a chance to show off with their magic in more creative ways or even just to have some fun. Makarov himself was part of the latter group as his main Magic wasn't the type to be creative compared to other Mages.

The moment he heard that his grandson Laxus was back in town, he felt like something was wrong. Was it premonition? Was it simply his mind exaggerating his grandson's actions recently? All that he was certain of was that something was off, that danger was close by.

But Laxus was his grandson so he repressed that feeling, a hint of guilt seeping into his thoughts at doubting Laxus. The boy had been distant lately and his attitude left something to be desired but he was still a member of Fairy Tail and he shouldn't doubt family.

Time passed and he heard of an incident with Laxus and one of their new members, Gajeel Redfox. It wasn't too unexpected knowing how Laxus thought. Gajeel had attacked Fairy Tail when he was a member of Phantom Lord and most of the guild had been hostile to him when he joined. Laxus just took it a bit too far, that's all. He certainly didn't want to believe the rumours that Gajeel had jumped in front of an attack meant for Jet and Droy purely because that meant that his grandson would have meant to attack a fellow guild member.

So once again, he repressed his doubts and focused on the upcoming parade. They always liked to outdo the previous year and they had a few new members who could put on quite a show. Gray and Juvia could be a good pair together for one of the floats.

The Miss Fairy Tail Contest happened then, something akin to an opening for the festival later on. A lot of the female members had joined. First was the local drunk of the guild, Cana Alberona, the Card Magic Mage. She was one of the first members of the newer generation and was fairy skilled. She had been put up for S-Class multiple times though she hadn't made it yet. She was close though.

After her was Juvia Lockser, a former S-Class Mage of Phantom Lord before it was disbanded. She was known for her use of Water Magic though he himself wondered if there was more to it. She could make her body into a form that was completely made of water and that wasn't something a normal Water Mage could do.

Mirajane Strauss was next. She used to be known simply as 'The Demon' due to her Take Over Magic being used to control the power of a variety of Demons. She was an S-Class Mage but due to the incident with her sister… well it wasn't good to think about. Mirajane hadn't been the same since she returned. Sure, she was nice and friendly now, but she had lost that something that had made her Mirajane. She lost her will.

Next was one of the guild's strongest, Erza Scarlet. She was one of the four current S-Class Mages of the guild, the others being Laxus, Mystogan, and Gildarts Clive, and she was incredible strong. Natsu and Gray fought each other all the time yet her mere presence sent them cowering and acting like they were the best of pals. She even scared him sometimes.

Her little performance involved using some manipulation of her own Magic, Requip. Sure, any Requip Mage could do such a thing but everyone there knew hers was superior to any other. The speed she could use it at along with being able to requip both weapons and armour at the same time, even while fighting, made her well known. Titania, the Queen of the Fairies.

He had snapped out of his thoughts with the appearance of the one of their quieter members, Levy McGarden. She made a short show using her Solid Script Magic before disappearing once again. He hadn't helped but notice that she still glared at him but after what happened all those years ago with 'Him', he couldn't blame her. They had been good friends after all.

Another Requip Mage appeared next, only she used Gun Magic instead of Sword Magic. Bisca Mulan was a great shot with a rifle and managed to shot through all four coins she threw up with one hit. He could even hear the sound of Alzack over the crowds, cheering for her. It always made for a funny joke on how everyone knew they liked each other but neither knew that their feelings were mutual.

Lastly was one of their newer members, a girl called Lucy Heartfilia. While her Magic was widely heard of, it was rare for someone to pick it up due to the strongest abilities being restricted. She was a Celestial Spirit Mage after all and there were only twelve Golden Zodiac Keys. She was lucky enough to have six of them in total. It made you wonder what could happen if you managed to possess them all.

And that's when everything went wrong.

Every one of the girls that were competing had been turned to stone. And it was her doing. Evergreen. She was known for her Secondary Magic being able to turn her enemies to stone, and for some reason she had decided to use it on her own guild mates.

Over at the side had Freed Justine and Bickslow, sitting above them all. He didn't even know when they appeared but he knew that something was up. Together, they were known as the Thunder God Tribe, Laxus's personal bodyguards.

And then Laxus had made his appearance. There three were acting under his orders and he declared that the battle of Fairy Tail was beginning. If they didn't comply, the frozen girls would die.

Every member of the guild got the message. They ran for the exit and began to scour the city, searching for the Thunder God Tribe and Laxus himself, determined to defeat them.

They should have all split up and not worked together. Freed had prepared the battlefield perfectly for them and the guild continued to get caught in trap after trap, where guild members were forced to fight amongst themselves to proceed. He could feel his heart breaking from the damage his grandson was causing among his guild.

Then Laxus showed his hand. He wanted to be the Guild Master of Fairy Tail, and was determined to do anything to get it.

He would have gone out to stop him if it wasn't for the runes blocking the exit for anyone over eighty or if they were stone statue.

The Guild Master sighed as he looked up towards the runes by the door. "Only two people are left."

"Why the hell can't you get out, huh? Stop copying me."

"Like hell I know Salamander. I'm not doing anything here."

Makarov frowned as he looked towards the two voices arguing. One was Gajeel, the Iron Dragon Slayer. The other was Natsu Dragneel, the Fire Dragon Slayer, also known as Salamander. The two were an odd pair but they were definitely some of the guild's strongest members. Dragon Slayer Magic was very destructive due to its immense power, and it was rare to find users of it as only Dragons could teach Humans the Magic.

A thought crossed his mind as he reread what the runes had said again and again and again until…

"Two?" He looked towards the two Dragon Slayers who stopped speaking as they felt his gaze land on them. His mind slowly connected the dots until he sudden realised what that meant.

"Don't tell me it's just these two left!"

"Why am I not included?" shouted Happy, a strange blue cat that could use Magic to fly.

Makarov could feel the despair closing in. It couldn't be. The entire guild had been defeated, both through each other and the Thunder God Tribe. Natsu and Gajeel were trapped in the guild by the runes, for reasons no one knew of. There was no one left to battle and he wasn't allowed to escape the barrier either. Was this the end of Fairy Tail?

"No choice then." Makarov spun round to see Natsu walking away towards the stone statues. "I'll have to go and revive Erza. And here I was looking forward to beating her."

"WHAT!"

Makarov tried to calm himself down. "Wait a minute Natsu. What are you talking about?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Natsu seemed to be staring at him like he was stupid. "If I burn the stone, it will come off right?"

"Are you an idiot?" Makarov screamed at the pink haired boy.

"Well we won't know until we try."

"Yes we do. Are you trying to kill her or something?"

Their arguing halted as the sound of cracking appeared. They took one look at the crack forming on Erza's head and went into full out panic.

"Oh crap," said Natsu in panic as he turned to Happy. "We need clue. Hurry Happy."

"Aye sir."

"You idiot. You think that will help her?" Natsu looked towards Gajeel who had turned his right arm into iron. "Melt my Iron down and we'll weld her back together."

"You're both fools!"

The cracks kept happening though, Natsu praying in the background for Erza's safety and for her not to kill him.

One more crack and suddenly the whole thing shattered. Instead of breaking into a million pieces however, they saw Erza perfectly fine, dressed up in the goth outfit she was wearing earlier.

Erza took one look around the room before glaring menacingly at Natsu. "I feel hot... Was that your doing Natsu?"

She slowly stood up, dusting a few specks of stone of her before she brought her fist back and smashed the two Dragon Slayers towards the walls.

"What the hell were you playing at?"

"Erza!" Happy cheered, Gajeel meanwhile wondering why he was thrown as well.

"Erza." The red haired woman looked down towards the Guild Master as he called her. "How…"

"I… don't know," she finally admitted. "Perhaps it was my right eye?"

Makarov gave a swift nod. It was entirely possible. The Magic of Stone Eyes worked by eye contact as many types of Eye Magic did. Erza only had one real eye though, the other being destroyed before she had arrived at Fairy Tail. The artificial eye Porlyusica had made for her must have cut the power of the spell in half as it only affected her left eye.

"Do you know what is going on?" asked Happy.

"Yeah. I heard everything."

A smile grew on Makarov's face. They had a chance now. Erza was free and with her, they could strike back. She could freely exit the runes now and take on the Thunder God Tribe.

"These runes really are impressive." Makarov turned towards what Erza was referring to as she walked towards the door of the guild. "They realised I can fight and so added me to the roster. So with three people, I assume that is me, Natsu, and Gajeel."

Before anyone could say anything, the runes changed again, the number increasing to four.

"It went up…" muttered Gajeel.

Natsu spun round the room furiously, looking for the culprit. "Who?"

Makarov was doing a similar thing. "All the girls are still frozen."

Erza though smiled as she realised what had happened. "It looks like that man has decided to take part in this little battle of ours."

The Guild Master looked up at the runes before he realised what Erza was implying. Gildarts was still away on a mission. They would know when he returned, there was a city wide alarm after all. Erza was here and Laxus was an enemy. That left one man. Mystogan.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

Far away in the centre of Magnolia stood a large cathedral. This place was known as Kardia Cathedral, and was the current headquarters for Laxus while the guild fought amongst themselves. He was currently waiting, letting what he referred to as the trash get wiped out until only the strongest remained.

Right now though, he was bored. The numbers had dwindled down too much. No one was left except for Natsu and Gajeel. He couldn't believe the nerve of Gramps, letting in that Phantom Lord trash. Gramps was quick at letting someone like that into the guild but he didn't even believe in 'Him'. Disgusting.

He had hoped at least one of the Thunder God Tribe would have lost. Maybe then, they could have proved to him that the guild was strong. Elfman and Gray had seemed promising but in the end, they had failed. Sure, they put up a better fight than most of the others, yet they still lost in the end.

His only other source of amusement had been watching Alzack's progress. He took down member after member when they were caught as he searched relentlessly for them. He failed when he reached Freed though. Shame in a way. The Gun Mage had a lot potential with that much dedication. Similar to 'Him'.

He had recently made his little announcement to his grandfather, demanding the title of Guild Master be passed over to him. With it, he would remake Fairy Tail. He would make it stronger.

An alert on the runes nearby caught his attention. He turned to it and smiled in anticipation. Erza and Mystogan were both into the tournament now. Disregarding Gildarts, that was almost all of Fairy Tail's strongest members. Mirajane was out of action even if she recovered. She didn't have that edge she had as 'The Demon' and even if she recovered it, she wouldn't be effective after so long of inactivity. And as for 'Him', he was far away somewhere. He hadn't heard from him in a while but he was definitely still alive. He was too stubborn to die after all.

There was those Dragon Slayers to consider as well but they weren't worth his time. They had potential, he couldn't deny that, but it wasn't complete yet. They would have a long way to go to force him to get serious against them.

"This is just like what a festival should be." No one heard his soft mutterings but no one needed to. He chuckled as he tried to imagine who would reach him first. Would Erza find him or would she get caught up with someone and allow Mystogan to have first shot. He knew the man's little secret however so he could always use that to unbalance him. And Erza if she was there with him.

"Just a bit longer. I'll create the perfect guild. I'll change Fairy Tail, and make it recognise your strength. Just wait a bit longer."

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

Makarov could do nothing but pace. He didn't know what to do while he waited. Erza had gone out and not long after, the runes had show that a fight had begun. Erza was fighting Evergreen. It was the Queen of the Fairies against a user of Fairy Magic.

Had Evergreen grown stronger than last time he had seen her. It had been quite a long time and if the Stone Eyes were anything to go by, she was tougher than before. Last time, the eyes' effect didn't last as long as it did when held on too many people. She must have worked hard to increase the limit. It made him proud-

He cut of that line of thought quickly. She was an enemy right now. He couldn't be proud of her improvements despite her still being a member of Fairy Tail. Right now, they had the girls still frozen to worry about. They were still hostages under her will.

The cracking of stone caught their attention causing all the occupants not turned to stone in the room to turn towards the sound. One by one, the girls unfroze, returning to their normal selves.

"What's going on?" asked Lucy.

Juvia looked just as confused. "What happened to Juvia?"

"Ah!" Everyone turned towards Natsu. "You're all back."

A flying cat crashed into Lucy. "Lucy. You're okay."

Makarov looked towards the runes in pride. Erza did it. She defeated Evergreen and, with her loss, the girls had been released from the spell. The question waiting now was what would Laxus do now? He wouldn't give up after going so far. His hostages were gone thought so would that make him more desperate. That wouldn't be good if it did.

He noticed Natsu was currently filling the girls in on what was happening. Levy was still glaring at him, probably blaming him for the whole mess. She really was hard to deal with when she wasn't acting like her usual nice self.

"Laxus pulled something like that?" Makarov approached them just in time to catch the end of the conversation.

"It doesn't matter anymore," he said. "It's all over. None of you are petrified anymore so Laxus has no hostages left. This ridiculous game of his is over."

"But Master…" Makarov turned towards Mirajane, her face looking down at the ground in sadness. "What about everyone who was caught in Freed's traps. Some of them would have gotten seriously hurt."

"That's right," joined in Bisca. "Laxus needs to be punished. He's gone too far."

Makarov couldn't help but agree with them all. "Don't worry about him. I'll be talking to him about what he had done later. I can't understand why he has gone so far as he has."

"I can," muttered Levy, her glare never wavering from the Guild Master. He could practically see the anger in them. Before he could say anything however, Natsu cut it.

"Hold it."

Everyone turned to him, Natsu holding up one of his hands to reinforce the effect he was going for. He waited until they were all focused on him before he crossed his arms and continued.

"I know all you think what Laxus did was wrong, and I have to admit the way he did it wasn't right, but is there anything wrong with finding out who is the strongest in Fairy Tail is there? So just don't be too hard on the guy will you."

Makarov couldn't help but look at the pink haired Mage in front of him in amazement and shock. Natsu was simply something else. To him, everyone had that speck of light in them, that piece that made them good.

"Now let's start the Second Battle of Fairy Tail!" Natsu exclaimed suddenly. "Let's begin."

"WHAT!" The entire guild left in the building was perfectly in sync.

"Come on, I haven't fought anyone yet. Bring it on."

Lucy just shook her head at Natsu's antics. "Please stop. Coming from you, it's hard to tell if you're joking or not."

Cana took a swing from one of the bottles at the bar before smiling towards Natsu. "If you really want to go, then bring it on. I'll take you down."

"Don't encourage him Cana," said Bisca.

Makarov sighed in relief before he stopped something odd happening with the runes. Levy had noticed it too and finally took away her relentless gaze to point it out to the others. The runes all gathered towards the centre of the room before they formed a giant skull of runes. Then Laxus's voice spoke.

"Can you hear me Gramps? What about the rest of you in the Guild?"

"What do you want?" Natsu demanded. Laxus carried on, ignoring Natsu's demand.

"It seems one of the rules will no longer work. You'll all need a new incentive to keep playing. So to make things more fun, I've activated the Thunder Palace."

Makarov felt his entire body freeze in fear. "The Thunder Palace! You can't be serious?"

"One one hour and ten minutes left Fairy Tail. Can you win? Or will you hand over Fairy Tail to me? Choose well."

The runes scatter back to their original places, Makarov shaking in anger.

"What are you thinking Laxus! Are you planning to drag innocents into this?"

Pain filled his body as his hands grasped his chest. It happened in slow motion to everyone as their Guild Master fell to the ground, clutching his chest at where his heart was.

"Old man!"

Mirajane rushed over to him. "This is bad. He needs his medicine."

"What's Thunder Palace old man? Old man?"

Makarov couldn't answer no matter how much he wanted to. He was simply in too much pain.

"Up here," called Bisca from the stairs.

Natsu got his answer soon enough though. While Mirajane took the Master to the infirmary, he and the others had gone to the roof. They could see what Bisca had spotted there. All around the town were positioned were Lacrima Orbs filled to the brim with Lightning Magic. They understood what Laxus planned to do now. When time ran out, the Lacrima would release the energy stored within them in the form of Thunder, pouring down towards the town. The city of Magnolia was now his hostage, and they would never be able to evacuate in time, especially if Freed had edited his runes to stop the Civilians from escaping.

Bisca found out the protection they had soon enough as well. She had fired a shot at one of them and destroyed it easily. Then she was hit by the same amount of damage she had inflicted. The Lacrima had been protected by Organic Link Magic.

Natsu was completely furious. He was slamming himself again the wall, trying to break free and putting as much power as he could into breaking through. He could swear he could hear Laxus laughing at them and the situation he had put them in.

Levy meanwhile was stuck in a dilemma. What Laxus was doing was wrong, that much was certain. She didn't like it and she wanted to stop it. He may listen to her. But then, she also understood why he was doing this. He didn't just want control over Fairy Tail. He was trying to make Fairy Tail accept 'His' way of thinking and not reject 'Him'. Should she help stop Laxus?

The answer was simpler than she thought. As much as she saw what Laxus was doing, and god knows she would want the same, his method was wrong. People were getting hurt and she couldn't accept that.

"Natsu," she finally said, finding her voice. "Stop."

"Like hell I will. Damn it, why can't I get through."

"I said stop." Levy couldn't believe how much force was in her voice currently. Some of the other guild members were looking at her strangely due to the lack of her normal attitude. Even Natsu had stopped to look at her. She didn't have time to ponder their reactions though. She had a job to do.

"Freed's Magic is a type of Letter Magic," she explained slowly, making sure everyone was following her. "The runes surrounding the guild and the city are a style known as Jutsu Shiki. They can take a while to set up but they have absolute rules. They are almost impossible to break out of but their weakness is that they can be edited."

Levy looked towards the rune barrier surrounding the guild. "All of you go on ahead. I'll stay back here with Natsu and Gajeel and work out a way to free them. It will take a while but I can free them if I deconstruct the rune formula. Leave it to me."

"Can you really do it Shrimp?" Gajeel wasn't completely convinced but she seemed confident. She might be able to do what she said.

"Of course. I'll have you two free in no time."

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

It took a while for Levy to rewrite the runes. Makarov had been moved to the guild's infirmary along with Bisca to recover. Everyone else has left following Levy's advice and had moved into the city to find others and search for the Thunder God Tribe.

Natsu smashed himself against the runes once more, flames licking his body unconsciously in his anger at Laxus. "How much longer?"

Levy looked up at him. "With a few changes here, a switch of languages then at different rates to finish here and… Done!"

Gajeel looked at her in surprise. "Really? I expected there to have been a fight before you had finished. You haven't been working on this as long as I would have expected."

"Maybe in a different world." Levy sighed as she looked out the door. "But when you hang around 'Him' long enough, you can't help but grow stronger, just to try and keep up. I'm not a powerhouse like you guys and I never will be. What I can do is to increase my skill with my Magic to help support the team."

Gajeel frowned. Him? Who was this person she was talking about?

"I agree with you there," Natsu said. "That guy, he was ridiculously strong. Laxus level strong."

Gajeel let out an involuntary shudder. As much as he could try and hide it, he was slightly afraid to fight Laxus. He had heard the rumours about him and when he blocked that one attack of his, it had hurt like hell and Laxus hadn't even been trying. And this guild had another monster?

"You think he's still alive?" asked Natsu. "It's been three years."

Levy nodded. "I never lost faith in him like the Master did. Neither did Laxus. He'll be back someday."

"Good. I want to fight that guy."

Levy held out a hand to the runes and the others could only watch as the runes began to rewrite themselves, letters from the pages in Levy's hands flowing off the paper and into the runes, changing forms as they went.

The letters glowed for a moment after all the letters had been transferred before going back to their normal colour. Levy smiled at the result.

"It worked. The Jutsu Shiki accepted the new rule. Now, Dragon Slayers are permitted to leave the guild."

"Why not the Master?" Gajeel couldn't understand why they couldn't just remove that rule for when the Master recovers.

Levy just shook her head in response. "It doesn't work like that. I can't remove the rule completely, only add in a cause or two. In this case, I allowed Dragon Slayers to be able to exit but the over eighty rule still stands for the Master."

Natsu smiled reassuringly at her. "That's enough, don't worry Levy. We'll deal with Laxus. You look after the Master."

"Wait-" A wheezing cough interpreted the Master's voice as he struggled into the room.

"Master!"

"Old Man!"

"I'm… Alright." Makarov certainly didn't feel it but he didn't dare let that show. He had just felt something. Something he hadn't felt in a long time. He needed to see the runes to be sure.

Levy rushed over to him. "Master, you need your rest."

Makarov just waved the girl off. "The runes. I need to see them."

Levy looked at him for a moment before leaning down and putting one of his arms over her shoulder to help him walk over to the exit of the guild. She may hold a grudge against him but he was still their Guild Master, and he was hurt badly. "What do you need to see?"

Makarov didn't answer. He instead just stared at the runes, as if waiting for something.

Natsu and Gajeel waited as well, both curious at what the Master wanted to see.

Then they felt it. The runes showing the number of participants suddenly ticked up by one and as it did, they all could sense what the Master had felt before. The Magical Energy that the new participant was emitting was so high that they could sense him from the guild, and this newcomer had to have been at the edge of Magnolia.

But to Levy, it was so familiar. It was so dense and so great that it reminded her of 'Him'. No one had such dense Magical Energy apart from 'Him'. Could it be… Had he finally returned?

"This energy… Who is it?"

Makarov turned towards Gajeel. "This man is one of our strongest Mages, and he is probably the best friend Laxus ever had."

Levy glared at him furiously. "You can't honestly believe he will agree with what is going on here?"

"I don't know what he will do." Makarov let out a sigh as he stared at the runes. "But his mere presence is a problem. If he is an enemy, we've lost. If he's an ally, then the damage will be catastrophic."

Gajeel felt his jaw drop. "Surely that's a bit excessive?"

Makarov shook his head. "I wish it was. If Laxus had a glaring weakness, it is his pride. You, Natsu, Erza, none of you are worth his time. And the truth is none of you are at his level. The potential is there but it's still only that. Because of that, he won't fight you at full strength. But him…"

Makarov looked out across the town. "He won't hold back if they fight. One of the few people Laxus would fight all out is when he is against him."

"Hey Master." Makarov turned towards Natsu. "Is he really that strong? He never fought me no matter how much I tried."

"This man… He is a man who managed to wound Gildarts."

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

Laxus rested himself on the stairs inside Kardia Cathedral. Thunder Palace. He was ashamed in a way to be forced to resort on such a technique but he had gone too far now to turn back. He was putting everything on the line.

Evergreen may have been defeated but Freed and Bickslow were still out there. They wouldn't fall easily.

Now all he had to do was wait for Mystogan and Erza to show up. They would fall easily enough, as would Natsu and that Phantom trash if they ever got out.

Levy. The girl would free them, he was sure of it. She just wouldn't go to the extremes he would to change Fairy Tail. She was too peaceful in her methods. He wouldn't kick her out when this was all over though. She was 'His' friend after all.

A quick glance at the runes showed nothing out of the ordinary. No new fights had started or ended, and no traps had triggered yet. The waiting game.

He sensed it before the runes recorded it. Such a massive volume of dense Magical Energy. It could only be one person, especially with how familiar it was. He would recognise it anywhere. They had fought alongside one another enough to remember the other's energy signature.

His usual smirk grew into a smile. He hadn't smiled like this in so long, so carefree and happy. He didn't have to fake it and it wasn't menacing in the slightest.

He looked out one of the church windows in the direction where the energy was coming from. How fitting that 'He' would turn up now. Just in time to see the new Fairy Tail, one that would accept him completely.

"So you're finally home are you," he quietly whispered to himself. "Welcome back, Ichigo."

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

Here we go then. How did you all like the first chapter? Events happened similar to canon in the festival except that no battles have occurred since Laxus changed the rules.

Levy is slightly stronger here and I made a lot of references to 'Him' here. I wanted to keep the suspense going till the end. Made a bigger impact I think.

Ichigo isn't going to be Godlike here hopefully. When I said he wounded Gildarts, you will have to see how and in what circumstances. Won't be for a while yet I think though.

And here, Laxus seems to have another driving factor in changing Fairy Tail. Again, a little teaser for the story ahead.

From the next chapter onwards, we go back in time. This was to set it up and I thought it was better to have the opening chapter at this point in time as a teaser of what is to come.

Anyway, till the next time. I've been Takei. Thanks for reading.


	2. Beginnings

Sorry about the wait. I like doing weekly chapters but I had enough reason too. Chapters 2 and 3 form the first arc of the story I would say. The Origin Arc. I should perhaps label them or something so let me know what you think about that.

Anyway, since it's a two chapter arc, I was worried about enough words for chapter 3 so I had to write that as well. I got enough though so you get about 8600 words here and 6600 next chapter. Quite a lot altogether.

Anyway, let's head straight into the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or Bleach. Shame, it would be great if I did.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

**Beginnings**

Far away in an isolated part of the kingdom of Fiore, there exists a small town known as Karakura Town. A small place with a small community, most would think that it would be easy pickings for Dark Guilds and bandits. There were no troops of the Magic Council nearby to help them and the kingdom's own troops were too far away as well. So why was this town so safe?

The answer was in a small clinic in the middle of the city. In this clinic, a small family lived. The Kurosaki family.

Isshin Kurosaki ran the clinic. While there were many better doctors around, he was good enough to deal with small cases. When he had free time though, he helped defend the city alongside his wife, Masaki. He was known though to have some slight… problems with his personality.

Masaki was one of the kindest people in the city. Even the Mages she defeated and sent off felt like they had done something wrong, even if they had done much worse before and hadn't felt anything. She never seemed to get mad at anyone and never attacked anyone unprovoked.

She and Isshin together had three kids. The twins, Karin and Yuzu had only recently been born while their eldest child was already reaching nine. His name was Ichigo Kurosaki.

Ichigo was a strange child, different from most since the day he was born, and it wasn't just because of his bright orange hair. He was born with incredibly high Magical Power yet what was so peculiar about him was that no problems had ever occurred because of it. For most children, they would have fallen sick and could even have died if they were born with too much Magic, yet Ichigo had even more than them and was as healthy as any other child.

It had confused many of the people in their old town for months until they were about to ask the Magic Council about such a thing. Only Isshin's timely intervention had stopped them and to do so, he had cashed in every favour he owned. There was no knowing what the Magic Council would want to do if they learned of Ichigo's existence.

So the family had moved, left to Karakura Town. It was perfect for them. Isolated.

When the first bandits had appeared since their arrival, Isshin left to deal with them despite the warnings the others gave him. He returned an hour later with no sign of the bandits following him. To this day, no one knew what happened. Did he scare them off or did he kill them. In the end, they were just happy they were gone.

Of course, it wouldn't have stopped all the bandits. More came every once and a while but none reached the village. Eventually word reached some of the local Dark Guilds by an underground network. A village which suddenly had beaten ever attempt to attack it? It was just the challenge one of the Dark Guild members might have wanted for some fun.

They all failed just as easily as the bandits. Even a few times with Masaki going instead, they never reached the town despite Masaki being kinder in her methods. And eventually, they just stopped trying. The town wasn't able to be taken for their own purposes so it was better to leave it alone. The two Mages didn't seem to want to leave the city much so they were safe from them as long as they stayed away.

This had continued till Ichigo was nine and even then, they still were cautious around the town. While bandits were scared to approach the town though, the clinic was in chaos. It wasn't a Dark Mage that did it, rather it was the usual chaos in the family.

"You're late!" Isshin went flying towards his son, preparing to kick him in the face.

Ichigo ducked as he entered, Isshin flying out the door. Without wasting a moment, the door was shut before Isshin had a chance to crawl back in. Ichigo sighed at his father's antics before a beaming smile appeared on his face. He had seen his mother.

"Ah," said Masaki as she turned from what she was doing to smile at her son. "Welcome home Ichigo."

"Hey mum." Ichigo walked over to his mother to see the twins in cots behind her. "How are Yuzu and Karin?"

Masaki brought her son in towards her and hugged him. "Perfectly fine. Look at you though. Already acting like a good big brother."

Ichigo blushed. "Mum!"

"She's right!" The two glanced round towards a window to see Isshin climbing through it. Strange though. They could have sworn it was locked before.

Isshin smiled at Ichigo, a shiver suddenly going down the boy's spine. "Of course, now that you have to protect your sisters, we must step up your training. I will increase my level of stealth and strike when you least expect it."

Masaki shook her head at her husband. "Of course you will dear." It was fun to humour Isshin. His insanity was part of his charm. He wouldn't do it though, not if she had anything to say about it. Like she would ever let her little boy get hurt if she could help it.

Ichigo meanwhile had detached himself from his mother and was peering down at the twins. "They're so tiny."

"Of course. So were you when you were that age. And you were so cute too."

Ichigo made sure to look away from Masaki, concealing the blush on his face.

Isshin meanwhile was smiling at the whole scene. He had found himself doing this an awful lot since he had met Masaki. She was like the sun to them all and none of them cared that their lives revolved around her. They just all loved being near her.

"Oh Isshin." Isshin snapped out of his daydreams as he focused on Masaki. "I decided to take one of the requests people sent us."

Isshin acted exactly as she expected, rushing over to her and checking her all over, making sure she was alright.

"Are you sure? I mean you haven't been out on one in quite some time and Yuzu and Karin weren't born that long ago so you have to consider how that inactivity would have affected you and you haven't done many jobs since Ichigo was born and-"

Isshin was cut off from his ramblings as Masaki broke into laughter. Just hearing that laugh, he could feel all his worries fading away.

"You're such a worrywart. I'll be perfectly fine. It's just a simple group of bandits. They aren't even organised, more like a group of deserters who met up a few days ago and are causing trouble."

Isshin had to give her that one. Deserters from Fiore's army were normally handled internally. For them to leave these men alone meant that they weren't even through their basic training and as such, they were even weaker than normal bandits were.

Masaki felt a hand pulling at her arm. She looked down to see Ichigo looking at her with wide eyes, a pleading expression on his face. "Can I go with you?"

Isshin and Masaki both froze, Ichigo confused at the action. Was it something he said?

The two adults though were glancing at each other, almost having an entire conversation without saying a word. They had made sure Ichigo was safe from prying eyes in Karakura Town but elsewhere, what if someone noticed something strange about him? What if word spread about him and the Magic Council had heard something they couldn't stop from all those years ago. It wasn't just his large Magic quantity to worry about as well. The Magic Council was sure to know what their Magic was and any child of theirs would be watched closely if their existence was learned of. It had been hard enough to slip away unnoticed in the first place.

But then, Ichigo hadn't been out of Karakura Town in years. He had spent most of his life there and had been watched extremely carefully whenever they had left for a day or too. While the town they needed to go to was further than normal, it was still far enough away from any major Magic organisation to avoid detection. Ichigo wouldn't be staying in Karakura forever and would want to see some Magic in action as well.

Masaki sighed internally. What was the worst that could go wrong?

"Why not. We'll be leaving early tomorrow. Do you think you'll be okay with that?"

Ichigo smiled. "Of course. Thank you."

Isshin watched as Ichigo rushed upstairs, probably planning to pick out a few things to take, completely lost in his excitement. He glanced towards Masaki, the worry exposed on her face now that Ichigo was gone.

"Didn't you tell me not to worry." He grinned as he saw a small smile creep its way onto his wife's face.

"I did, didn't I."

Isshin wrapped an arm around her. "I know you're scared for him but I'm not. You'll be with him after all."

"You're stronger," Isshin heard Masaki mutter.

"But I'm a lot more noticeable." Masaki let out a small chuckled at Isshin's words. "You're the level headed one. And I trust you completely."

Masaki relaxed into Isshin's arms. "Thank you Isshin."

"Any time."

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

The two left early that morning, Isshin forcing himself to get up to see them off. And then they were gone, heading down the road.

Ichigo was having the time of his life. Everything was new and different from what he saw in Karakura Town and he couldn't wait to see more. He had to stop himself from running all over the place in excitement.

Masaki smiled at Ichigo's barely concealed excitement. Seeing how happy he was made the whole risk worth it. They should probably take him out more as he got older. Karakura could be too small sometimes.

It took the pair a few hours to reach the new town. Ichigo pretended he could keep going for the entire journey while Masaki faked exhaustion to give him chances to rest.

Ichigo stared up at the new city. It wasn't anything special but to him, it was amazing. The houses were built slightly differently and there was a completely different feel about the place.

There were the downsides to the town as well. A flimsy wall had been quickly erected in a hurry and looked like it could fall down at any moment. Not much care had been put into it and it looked more they had just grabbed whatever they could to build it as it was a mix of wood, stone, and bricks.

Masaki frowned. This didn't look like the defence for a few weak deserters.

Her eyes scanned the crowds she passed as she and Ichigo went through the city. Most of the villagers would try to be subtle with their glances but some were outright in them. Their eyes showed a mix of both fear and hope.

A man approached them as they reached the town hall. He wore a formal kind of suit with an important air about him. Like the other residents though, he looked scared.

"I'm glad you came," the man said as he reached them. "Let's take this inside."

He gestured towards the town hall before leading them in to his office, the doors closing behind them and cutting off the rest of the village from them.

The man poured a cup of tea for himself before facing them. "Tea?"

"No thanks."

"Suit yourself." The man brought the cup to his lips before taking a sip, some of the tension he had fading with it. "A nice cup of this stuff always helps me calm down, you know."

"I assume you are the mayor?"

The man nodded. "Yes, I'm the mayor of this town. I represent our town's interests."

"Hey mister." The mayor looked down at Ichigo. "Why's there a big wall outside?"

Masaki nodded at her son's question. "I would like to know that as well. I was under the impression that you had a problem with a few deserters. That would make people believe it was to do with trade routes, not a raid."

"I'm sorry." The mayor couldn't meet her eyes. "I lied. That request I sent you was an older one."

"Why?"

The mayor hesitated. "Would you mind sending your son outside of the room a moment?"

Masaki looked at the man puzzlingly for a second before complying. "Wait outside a minute Ichigo. Don't wonder off."

"Fine." Ichigo closed the door for them, leaving the mayor and Masaki to talk. The two sat in silence for a moment, the only sound being heard coming from the mayor as he took a few more sips of his tea.

Masaki was the one to break the silence. "You haven't told me why yet?"

"Our town is too far away from any help the army can send easily. We sent a few requests out to the nearest guilds before we got cut off but those guilds were too weak."

"Too weak?"

"They're dead."

Masaki's eyes widened. "Dead?"

"Yes. No team they sent survived. Eventually, they just gave up. They lost too many of their friends."

Masaki felt her hands clench under the table. "Why did you send for me then?"

The mayor looked up at her, finally managing to look her in the eyes. He didn't show any fear anymore, rather that he had hardened his expression to as serious as he could get.

"We heard of you. Local news from one of the merchants who paid your town a visit. He heard of the Kurosaki family, the town's unofficial protectors."

"You haven't said why yet." The Mayor continued as if she hadn't interrupted him.

"I did some research into you two when things started getting bad. Through some old contacts before we lost communication, I learned that a Masaki Kurosaki and a Isshin Shiba disappeared almost nine years ago."

"What have you done?" Masaki found herself almost snarling at the man. It took a lot to get her mad, and if he was threatening her family, then that would be the trigger for it.

The mayor saw how close she was to snapping as he tried to calm her down. "I'm not threatening you-"

"Well it certainly feels like it."

"Please." The man dropped to his knees, shocking her. "I'm not trying to threaten you. I heard rumours, stories. They spoke of you two being different from normal Mages. Rumours about Shinigami and Quincy."

"Why would you need one of us? A normal Mage can still do the same job. Just get someone outside the blockade."

"It's not so much a blockade. More like a prison."

Masaki was about to say something when a bloodcurdling roar filled the air.

Before it even ended, Masaki was at the door and pulling Ichigo in. That roar sounded too much like a Hollow. She couldn't afford to let Ichigo out of her sight.

"Do you see now why I asked for you?" The mayor still hadn't left his begging position. "You recognise what that roar is. Most of the town don't know the truth about the monster, but there was something about it in the records I had available. Mentions of strange terrifying creatures with a pure white mask on their face."

"I beg of you," the mayor pleaded. "If not for me, but for the citizens of my town. You used to hunt these creatures. Please, help us."

Masaki looked down at the man. He was close to crying. He was literally putting every emotion he felt into his plead. Fear, worry, hope, despair, it was all there.

She could easily leave. A Hollow was dangerous. They were drawn to beings with high Magical Power, and Ichigo was practically a beacon of light for any nearby. All she had to do was leave now before it was too late. She was certainly fast enough if she carried Ichigo.

But looking at the mayor giving up even his dignity to beg her for her help, she just couldn't do it. She could have ignored it over at Karakura Town but she was here now. And she couldn't leave the situation as it was. There was even the risk that the Hollow would move on after this town and would eventually end up near Karakura Town. Worst case, it could attract unwanted attention.

Masaki sighed. "Where is this Hollow?"

"Thank you. Just thank you."

The mayor stood up, wiping his eyes. "We've had reports of it being in the forests north of here. That was a day ago though. The monster may have moved."

"It's there," said Masaki, not paying much attention to the shock the man was showing. "I can sense it now. It's not even hiding its presence from me anymore."

"Is… is that good?"

"Depends." Masaki looked down at Ichigo. "Ichigo, I need you to stay with this nice man."

"Huh? But why? I thought you said I can watch you in action?"

"I'm sorry sweetie." She crouched down before hugging her son. "It's more dangerous than I thought."

Ichigo pouted. "Fine."

"That's a good boy." Masaki turned her attention to the mayor. "I trust Ichigo will be safe here?"

"Here? Of course. He'll been fine."

"Good." Masaki walked towards the door before turning back to face the mayor one last time. "If he's not fine, the Hollow won't be the worst your town has to face."

The mayor shuddered as the Quincy left the room, Ichigo looking up at him. "Is your mother normally that scary?"

"Scary? She's the nicest person ever."

"I see." The mayor shuddered again. It was always the nicest that could be the scariest. Stupid suppressed aggression.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

Masaki found herself arriving at the forest quickly. She didn't bother rushing as the Hollow wasn't showing any signs of moving.

When did it work out she was coming. It must have tried hunting Ichigo at some point when they had gotten close to the city and sensed her presence. Hollows were creatures of instincts, and they trusted those instincts completely. Part of the Hollow must have screamed at itself about her being a Quincy, a built in survival instinct to avoid her.

Getting closer though, she could see why it was broadcasting its location to her. It was because it wasn't alone.

What had appeared to be one strong Hollow was instead a group of weaker Hollows, their presence merging together from a distance. It seemed that the mayor may have been quite accurate when he said there had been deserters previously. If she didn't know any better, she would bet that the deserters had become Hollows.

The mayor had said that he hadn't been threatening her. Now that she thought about it, it was better to send her the old request than the new one. If such a thing had been intercepted, people could have learned where she and her family were.

Still, a pack of weak Hollows was a slight problem. She hadn't lied to Isshin when she said she would be fine on the mission but she had expected deserters. Fighting a Hollow was slightly more dangerous, and after being out of practice for a while, she could find this fight harder than it would normally be.

She should have been practicing more. That was always her problem. If she had been keeping up with her skills, she would have sensed the Hollows a mile off before she even approached the town originally. She could still fire a bow though and she had her Bluts to fall back on. Those skills didn't dull, no matter how many years might pass.

Slowly, the trees began to thin out. The densely packed areas became sparser and sparser until she reached a small clearing, a river running through it. That same river carried on till it reached the edge of a cliff nearby, dropping down as a waterfall.

There wasn't any cover for the Hollows to hide, but then they hadn't planned to. In numbers, they had become more confident. They believed they could take her down so they didn't bother trying to hide from her, especially since if they did, she could just track them down one by one.

There were five of them in total. One had a bull like shape, even including horns attacked to its mask. It stood on its back legs and gave the impression it was more of a heavy hitter than anything else.

The second Hollow was more like a spider, with its eight legs and pincers. It could probably fire some kind of webbing as well.

The third was bird like, its arms being replaced by razor sharp wings. Likewise, its feet had become talons and its mask had the mouth extruding to form a beak.

One of the strangest Hollows she had ever seen was the fourth. It looked almost like a demonic flamingo with its incredible long thin legs and its terrifying appearance. Its long neck connected up to its face and mask, moving its head around a lot while never letting her out of its sight.

The last Hollow seemed to be the leader of the group. It was a lot like a giant hamster with red claws. There was a quite sinister smile on the Hollow's mask, and from the top of its head, a lure of some kind rested from it.

All of them had the typical hole through their chests as well. And they all were looking at her hungrily.

"Do any of you have names?"

None of the Hollows spoke, just staring at her. Eventually, the hamster like Hollow answered her.

"I am Grand Fisher."

Masaki nodded at the Hollow. "You know why I'm here."

"You're our food," the spider like Hollow called out.

"If you surrender now, it will all be over quickly."

"Surrender?" Grand Fisher began to laugh at the word, his voice filling the clearing. "Why would we do something as stupid as that?"

"You would save yourselves unnecessary pain."

"I think not." The Hollow licked its lips. "I'm quite hungry you know. And there is this delightful smell over in that village. Children are my favourite thing to eat as well."

Fury filled her very being as she held out her left arm. The Hollows were immediately on guard as they spotted the cross hanging around her wrist.

The cross glowed a bright blue as Masaki flowed her Magic into it before the energy shot outwards, pulling in energy from around itself. When it was done, a bow made of pure Eternano from the atmosphere was present.

The bird Hollow didn't wait like the others, instead taking to the skies. It began to circle Masaki from above before diving towards her.

Masaki was faster though. She took one look at the Hollow and aimed the bow upwards. Using her right arm, she pulled the string of the bow back and generated an arrow from the Eternano around her. It took less than a second to form and by the time that second finished, the arrow was already leaving the bow.

The Hollow sensed the danger the arrow posed but it was too late. The arrow smashed straight into the mask and shattered it, the Hollow disappearing with the destruction of its mask.

The other Hollows were already moving by the time she took out the bird Hollow though. The flamingo Hollow got their first and started stabbing towards her, using its long next and its flexibility to avoid any shots she tried to fire off at it.

The spider Hollow approached as she was occupied by the flamingo Hollow, firing off a blast of webbing of some kind.

Seeing the danger, Masaki began to move back from it only to find a wall of fur in her way, blocking her path. With no room to manoeuvre around her, she was left with no choice but to try and jump over it.

She didn't see the second set. As she began to descend, it smashed into her legs and rooted her to the ground.

Masaki swallowed the urge to cry out in pain. The webbing wasn't any ordinary webbing. It wasn't just stronger but it burned as well, almost like some kind of acid. She had to fire an arrow straight down to weaken the stuff enough to escape.

The distraction is caused her was complete though. A shadow appeared over her and she could just about see what was happening from the corner of her eye. All the attacks before had been cover for the bull Hollow to get as close as possible.

With a large roar, the Hollow brought one of its massive fists down on her, indenting to crush her. It smashed into her and sent her flying against the trees. The flamingo Hollow charged her ready to eat her remains and shot out its beak towards her.

Grand Fisher watched the scene and prepared to laugh in victory when he realised what the other Hollows hadn't. That attack just then would have weakened her or crippled her, yet she still should have been conscious and struggling in pain. So why wasn't she moving. It was almost like she was…

He froze as it all became clear before shouting towards the flamingo Hollow. "STOP! IT'S A TRAP!"

The flamingo Hollow froze in its actions but it was too late. Masaki's hand shot out and grabbed the Hollow by the neck, slowing pulling it closer towards her.

"What's the matter," she said to the Hollow as it struggled to break free. "Didn't you want to get closer to me?"

Using her free hand, she formed a tiny bow of Eternano with her fingers. The string was pulled back as she aimed it at the Hollow's mask.

"Heilig Pfeil."

The arrow smashed into the mask and kept going, firing a blast of energy out the back of the Hollow's head. The Hollow disappeared just like the first, Masaki stretching slightly as she picked herself up from the ground.

"Ah, that was close."

"Playing dead were you?" Masaki looked towards Grand Fisher as he spoke. "That blow should have crippled you or at least weakened you significantly. What did you do?"

Masaki gave the Hollow a smile before pulling by one of the sleeves on her top to reveal her arm. Nothing happened for a moment before a faint pattern of blue lines appeared across her skin.

"It's a nice little trick isn't it. You see, Quincy like myself have learned how to make up for our lack of defence and strength. By channelling our Magic through our body, we can enhance our abilities beyond what we would normally be capable of."

"I see. Does this technique have a name?"

Masaki looked at the Hollow in confusion. "You're interested in it? That's new for a Hollow."

The Hollow in question laughed. "Of course not. I only want to know the name of your trump card in order to destroy it."

A smiled crossed Masaki's face as she accepted the challenge. "The defence one is known as Blut Vene while the attack variation is Blut Arterie."

"Then watch as I crush it."

Grand Fisher charged at her and shot out a claw towards her. Before it connected though, Masaki vanished.

The Hollow barely dodged an arrow from above, reacting more on instinct that reasoning. He was lucky. If he hadn't moved then, he would have died.

"Since when did I say Blut was my only trump card?"

Grand Fisher glared up at Masaki who was standing on the air above him. "How?"

"Hirenkyaku. A Quincy can use it to ride a flow of Eternano beneath our feet. And as you can also see, we can also use it to stand on the air itself."

The three Hollows looked at each other before they all came to the same conclusion. They needed to bring her down. None of them could stand on the air like she could and none of them could fly. If they didn't bring her down, they were all dead.

The spider Hollow took aim and fired webbing up at Masaki. This time though, it spread out a lot more into a net rather than a ball.

Masaki dodged in a burst of Hirenkyaku before preparing to fire another arrow. Before she could though, the bull Hollow used its powerful strength to leap up to her height. It swiped its arms down at her and sent her flying down towards the ground.

Masaki just managed to catch herself mid fall before Grand Fisher was on her, launching large quantities of fur at her to try and grab her.

She quickly rolled under the fur and brought up the bow. Turning, she faced the spider Hollow.

The Hollow realised her intentions and leaped backwards, firing off a shield of webbing to block.

Unfortunately for the Hollow, Masaki had anticipated the action. The first arrow burned straight through the webbing, leaving a hole in it. The second was right behind the first arrow and smashed straight into the Hollow's mask, bringing the number of Hollows down to two.

The remaining two Hollows realised the situation they were in and as Masaki whirled round suddenly towards the bull Hollow, it raised its arms to defend itself.

Masaki sighed. They could have surrendered easily without this unnecessary trouble. Now they were just struggling at anything they could get their hands on. The bull Hollow was strong though, and due to being out of practice for a while, her arrows weren't as strong as they were normally.

There was no choice. She needed to finish this soon before they pulled something that actually would work. The traps they had used already were smart and she didn't want to find out if they had any secret trump cards like herself.

To get through the armour of the Hollow, she needed more power. Her Magic obeyed her request and activated Blut Arterie, increasing her offensive power.

She pulled back and fired. The arrow went clean through the armour the bull Hollow had obtained from its thick skin and hit the mask dead on.

Grand Fisher though had been waiting for her to be distracted. Whether it was by luck or because he worked out the weakness of the Bluts, it didn't matter. He struck his left hand at her, the claws grazing her side as she barely dodged being pierced.

The Hollow looked ready to do something but it was too late. Masaki brought back the string and fired an arrow. She didn't manage to hit the mask in her hurry but she was still in Blut Arterie. The extra force behind the arrow was enough to blast Grand Fisher straight off the cliff, falling into the water below.

Masaki brought herself to the edge of the cliff and scanned the area. She couldn't sense anything and she couldn't see the Hollow. Either the journey down was enough to kill him or a lucky rock had smashed into his mask, it didn't matter. She couldn't sense the Hollow's Magical Power any more. It was dead.

She let out a sigh of relief. That had been harder than she had expected. As least they had been weak, though some of them had some strange abilities.

The adrenaline left her body and she winced as she took a step away from the cliff. Blut Vene was also good at lessening the pain of injuries inflicted and she had a feeling she would be using it quite a bit for a while. Isshin was going to be so worried when she got home.

He would be worried anyway the moment he heard about the Hollows. If she knew him, he would be checking her for injuries within a second of getting home.

At least the mission was done now. She got rid of the Hollows and was now free to go home with Ichigo. It was a shame the Hollows had been the real threat. She would have loved to show him how her Magic worked against some deserters or someone of similar level. Oh well. There was always next time.

She left the area quickly, hurrying to get back to Ichigo. If she had stayed a moment later, she might have noticed the small burst of Magical Energy from below. Down at the bottle of the cliff, a hand shot out of the water and grabbed onto the rocks nearby.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

The mayor tried to ignore the orange haired boy as he asked question after question. It was like he had never seen or heard of anywhere outside his home town.

"Hey mister," Ichigo asked as he peered out of the window. "What's that statue about?"

He couldn't be this annoying all the time could he. How did he have so many questions? Was his mother overprotective or something? It was definitely a possibility considering how she reacted when he said he had learned of where she and her husband were.

He let of a sigh of relief as Ichigo lost interest in the statue, instead engrossing himself in one of the books he had in his office. He was lucky he had them else the boy would have been even worse. The books at least satisfied some of his curiosity.

Speaking of the boy, was he the reason why Masaki was so defensive and angry about him finding out where she was? He did seem to have a fair amount of Magical Power. He himself could only use a bit of Magic and even he could sense the boy's power, just hiding beneath the surface.

He wondered when Masaki would get back. She had left quite a while ago and she still wasn't back yet. He wished he could be like that orange haired boy, so calm and carefree. To him, his mother didn't have a chance at losing. She would be back. The convictions and beliefs of children were so simple like that, so much that he envied him.

If Masaki lost, then their town was doomed. No other options were available and by the time someone did hear of their situation, it would probably be too late. He cursed the fact that his town was so isolated. Even if Masaki managed to succeed, they would need to stop something like this from ever happening again. Perhaps petition the Magic Council or the King's Army for some sort of outpost nearby.

He was almost ashamed of what he was thinking of doing. To get such a thing to happen so quickly, he would need to provide an incentive. He had meant it when he said he wasn't threatening the Quincy, and he was true to his word. He just never said he wasn't planning to use that information anyway. He had to protect his town as his first priority, even if he had to tell the Magic Council about the family's location.

Masaki Kurosaki and Isshin Shiba had hidden for a reason and it was probably to do with that orange haired boy in the room. Maybe it was the boy's Magical Power as he did think it was strange for such a child to have so much available for him to eventually draw upon.

A knock on the door snapped him out of his shameful thoughts and he put on a smile as Masaki walked through the door. If she was back, then that meant only one thing.

"Is it done? Did you succeed?"

"Yes." A simple answer but it was all he needed. His home was safe for now.

"If that's all…" Masaki held out a hand, obviously waiting for the money from the job. The mayor quickly handed over the money. One hundred thousand Jewels was a good reward, far more than she would have received on the original job. He was glad when she accepted it without a word, not demanding more for having to fight those Monsters instead of deserters.

Masaki gave the Jewels a quick look over before putting it away in. She put out her hand towards Ichigo who grabbed it quickly as she let him to the exit of the office.

The mayor looked out to the town as she left and believed she was gone till he heard a few words.

"Don't ever expect my help again."

He heard the footsteps retreating and collapsed into his office's chair. He deserved it, he knew, for what he had done and for what he was going to do. He just hoped she wouldn't hold it against him too much if she ever found out. Because whatever he did, no matter how many of his own morals he needed to break, he was the mayor of this town first and foremost. He had a duty to his people and he would keep them safe, no matter the cost.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

"Hey mum?" said Ichigo as the two walked along the path back to Karakura. They had left the town as fast as possible under his mother's instance yet despite how rushed it had been, he had loved every minute of it.

"Yes Ichigo," Masaki said, looking down at her son.

"Today was fun wasn't it?"

Masaki wondered how to answer that question. To Ichigo, he had been having the time of his life. To her, it had been one thing to worry about after another, with the normal ever present fear for Ichigo of course. She hadn't felt so stressed in her life and she was still managing to try and stay happy for her son. So as for it being fun… she wasn't sure.

She couldn't help but admit that she had loved using her Magic again. It was exhilarating despite the events of today and she couldn't help but notice that she wouldn't mind doing a mission again from time to time. It was just so relaxing and empowering having Magic flow through your body like when she used the Bluts. She was still using Blut Vene and would probably keep using it till she got home so Isshin could have a look at her legs.

"It was fun." That was an appropriate answer to give.

Ichigo looked at his mother hopefully. "Can we go on another mission again?"

Would they? This mission had put her on edge, and she was worried if such a thing would happen again. She couldn't dare risk her little boy.

But she had seen how excited he was to see somewhere outside of Karakura Town. They had always been careful with what he saw inside the city, not wanting him to learn too much about Fiore to try and suppress his curiosity till he was older. A late teenager with high Magical Power was unusual but not impossible. It would be far less suspicious to people if they never learned that he had an amount of Magical Power that should have destroyed him from birth.

"Not for a while."

"Oh." Ichigo's face dropped. Masaki almost caved then and there. It was heartbreaking to see such an expression on his face, but it was for his own safety that he stayed in Karakura Town. As long he was within grip of her and Isshin, he was safe.

She couldn't just leave it like this though. And Ichigo had wanted one thing for a long time now.

"If you want though, I can teach you some Magic."

That did the trick. Ichigo was smiling again. He practically radiated happiness as he looked up at her. "Really?"

"Of course."

Ichigo let go on his mother's hand as he jumped around in joy. He would finally learn Magic. It was every kid's dream to do so.

Masaki watched him from afar as he ran ahead before picking up her own pace. Maybe they should have begun teaching him a year or two ago. No matter, it was too late for that now. She wondered how he would take to Magic. Would his high amounts of it prove helpful or detrimental?

She hoped Isshin wouldn't be too mad at her promising such a thing without consulting him as well. He wouldn't be mad too long though and the mission would distract him. Besides, he wouldn't be able to say no when he saw how happy Ichigo was. Better that he learn Magic now than go exploring and increase risk of discovery.

Masaki saw Ichigo ahead and noticed he had stopped running.

"What's wrong Ichigo?"

Ichigo smiled up at her before he quickly embraced her. "Thank you."

Masaki returned the smile. "You don't need to say thank you to me for something you deserve to know."

"I meant letting me go outside Karakura." Masaki raised an eyebrow at his response.

"What do you mean?"

Ichigo shuffled nervously. "I know you don't like me wandering too far away from home."

Masaki wondered how he had worked it out but then no one ever said that Ichigo wasn't a smart child. "You know your mum always wants to make sure you're safe right?"

Ichigo nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah."

"Always remember that."

The two kept walking in silence after that, both content. It was only later on that Masaki began to feel a sense of unease.

She couldn't explain why she felt like that. It was strange. The mission was complete and the Hollows were eliminated. If anything, she should still be happy like before.

It didn't help that she kept scanning the surroundings. It felt like she was being watched. Not just watched though. Identified, analyzed, even judged. She couldn't sense anyone nearby but she still felt like she was being suffocated by something, as if there was someone nearby who was a direct threat to them.

She subconsciously pulled Ichigo closer, hoping to shield him from whatever presence she was feeling. He squirmed slightly but she didn't let go. The feeling was getting stronger and it was too loud for her to ignore. It was even making her lose focus on Blut Vene and she could feel some of the pain returning.

Could she have counted wrong with the Hollows? What if there had been six or seven or more? They could have been stalking them and hoping to ambush them. As proved before, large groups of weak Hollows could still be dangerous.

She noticed Ichigo trying to get her attention. "Mum. Look."

She followed her gaze and found it landing on the man ahead of them. The man's spiky black hair was easy to recognise along with his 'cool' stubble around his face. It was just a thin amount of facial hair yet he always went on about how cool it made him look.

It was Isshin.

Hey dad!" shouted Ichigo as he broke free of his mother, setting out on a sprint to meet his father.

Masaki's hands gripped thin air before wrapping around herself. This wasn't right. Something was wrong. Something was dreadfully wrong.

Why was Isshin here? Did he perhaps hear something about the mission and had rushed over to meet her? What about the twins?

He would have left them with someone she reasoned. But what if he was here because of the twins? What if something had happened? Something he couldn't stop.

She had to be exaggerating she again reasoned. She was panicking, she knew that, but she couldn't stop. Her mind was running through too many scenarios. What if the Magic Council had found them? What if they had caught the attention of too many Dark Guilds and they had decided to team up to go after them?

But what was worst was that Isshin was standing right ahead of her down the path yet his presence wasn't reassuring her? Why? He never failed to calm her down when she got worried. He could just say a few words or even just stand there near her. So why wasn't he now? What was wrong?

It hit her like a tonne of bricks. Isshin. There was something wrong with him. Both her mind and her soul were in agreement about it but what was wrong.

Ichigo was almost at Isshin by this point. As he got closer and closer, Isshin seemed more and more sinister.

It was as Ichigo almost reached him that she saw it. A pair of eyes staring out from the trees, and a large white mask.

Her eyes followed the part on top of the Hollow's head till it reached where Isshin was. It was almost like Isshin was a lure…

Lure! Grand Fisher! It had to be. Whenever he had attacked her before with his claws, he had always seemed to try and use his left claw. Why? Could they have done something she wasn't aware of?

She was moving instantly though. One thing she remembered Grand Fisher telling her had engraved itself in her mind. He enjoyed eating children, and he wanted Ichigo.

Hirenkyaku. It was almost instinctive to use it at this point. She didn't have time to reach Ichigo by running. She could shout out but the Hollow could move faster than Ichigo could run. Hirenkyaku was the only thing fast enough to save him.

She appeared right in front of Ichigo, grabbing him and forcing him behind her. The Hollow had already begun to strike at this point.

Blut Vene. It was already running, strengthened as high as it would go. No matter how hard the Hollow tried, it wouldn't be able to wound her. This could stand up to some of Isshin's strongest attacks after all and Blut Vene was her speciality.

Then the worst happened.

Before her eyes, as Grand Fisher's jaw began to close towards her, she felt weak. Blut Vene disappeared as she felt all her power vanishing. It was draining away before her eyes and it would be gone way before the Hollow in front of her finished biting down on her. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion.

She stifled the desire to scream in pain as the Hollow's teeth ripped into her body. She didn't even recognise that she was falling as the Hollow released her from his grip.

"MUM!"

Grand Fisher let out a booming laugh as he stretched his arms out wide. "Do you see? You shouldn't have assumed I would be as weak as the others."

The Hollow raised his left hand. Masaki could just about manage to see what he was showing them.

"With my left hand, I can peer into your memories. All it takes is a single cut with them."

Grand Fisher then made to move his other arm, revealing his right hand to them.

"With my right, I bring them to reality. I find the one you can never harm or the one you never suspect and imprint them onto my lure. Did you never wonder why I went by Grand Fisher yet you never saw my lure have a purpose?"

"It was a shame you know." Grand Fisher looked down at her. "You could have killed me. You realised something was up and could have easily killed me if it wasn't for your son."

The Hollow turned his attention to Ichigo.

"How does it feel brat. How does it feel to know that you are responsible for your mother's death?"

Ichigo stood there in shock, not contemplating anything but those words. His mother was lying down on the ground, a pool of blood around her. Was it his fault? She saved him at the cost of her own life.

"Ichigo…" Masaki tried calling out to her son, her voice weak. She could already feel herself slipping away.

Ichigo didn't response. She tried again and this time managed to get his attention a little. The boy was on his knees instantly, crouching down by her with tears in his eyes.

"Mum. I'm sor-"

"Don't cry Ichigo," she said softly, trying to enjoy the last moments she could with her son before she was gone. "Big boys don't cry after all."

Ichigo tried to wipe some of the tears from his eyes but they wouldn't stop. He was gripping her hand tightly, as if begging her not to go. It was breaking her heart to have to leave him in such danger.

"Stay safe… and… be happy…" She was finding each word harder and harder to say. She just had time to say one last thing to him. Just three words.

"I love you."

The light faded from her eyes as her body slumped on the ground.

"Mum?"

No response. Her body didn't move as the rest of her blood spilled from the wound. Even that would eventually end, leaving nothing more than a lifeless corpse on the ground.

"Mum?"

Ichigo kept trying. Hoping, no begging, that she would open her eyes again. That it was all a bad dream and he would wake up soon, his mother there to reassure him everything would be okay.

Nothing. Still nothing.

"She isn't getting back up." Grand Fisher relished in the boy's despair as he taunted the child. He'd let the kid get consumed by his own pain for a few minutes and then he would devour him. It would be a fair trade in his opinion. The lady had taken four of his brethren so it was only fair that he should get some compensation.

The boy definitely smelled strong, even if he couldn't use that strength. He would put that strength to good use when he incorporated some of it into his own.

He decided that he had waited long enough. He approached the boy slowly, enjoying those last moments of pain the boy would have. It was fun to torment people.

He was right over the kid when he heard the boy speak. It couldn't hurt to listen to him for a moment. He would die no matter what.

"What did you say brat?"

"Wake up."

The kid was still talking about his mother it seemed. He wondered if the kid even heard him speak and had actually been just speaking to his dead mother.

Shame. He wasn't sure what he had expected but he had hoped something better. Oh well. It was time to feast.

"Wake up."

Did the child never shut up? He was just about to eat the kid and he had to keep talking. It was infuriating to him.

"Wake up, wake up, wake up."

That was it. He couldn't take it anymore. The child would be quiet when he was dead.

He lunged towards the boy, claws extended and his jaw wide. He would devour the boy in one go, and then he wouldn't have to deal with the child's incessant chattering again.

"WAKE UP!"

The Hollow couldn't react in time. The boy was enveloped in a pillar of Magical Energy, all being emitted by that same child. Grand Fisher didn't even have a chance to scream out before he was disintegrated, the sheer volume of Magic suddenly released too much for his body to take. Even some of the ground around the boy was shaking, rocks being forced into the air before being crushed into oblivion.

And by the time the Magic faded, the Hollow was gone and Ichigo was safe. He didn't notice though. He just stared out into space, lost to the world.

"Please wake up."

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

And there you have it. You get to see the first glimpse of how Ichigo started off.

How did you like how I portrayed Masaki? She got to fight a bit but I also tried to show how she would think. She's a nice person but she cares about her family more than anything else. If anything can make her mad, it's if they are threatened.

It was an interesting fight to do. I had originally planned to have deserters like I said and then to have Grand Fisher surprise them on their way home, but then I got to the town. I ended up writing it more like it was in danger and I realised that these weak deserters posed no threat to the town on such a scale. Hollows however could.

The Mayor was just a small character, but I enjoyed writing his point of view. He cares for his people and is prepared to do anything for them.

Anyway, till the next time. I've been Takei. Thanks for reading.


	3. A Teacher

Chapter 3 is here for your weekly read. As we speak, I should be working hard on more chapters and creating buffer zones, ensuring I can keep these chapters coming out weekly. I think I'm on chapter 6 or something currently.

I won't keep you any longer now though. On to the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or Bleach. Shame, it would be great if I did.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

**A Teacher**

The forest was quiet. There weren't the usual sounds you might have heard or animals you may have seen. The birds had all left elsewhere and the rest of the woodland creatures seemed to have done the same.

The wind blew across the land, dancing around trees and other objects along its path. Above in the sky, the moon shone brightly over them all, a perfect circle of white light in the sky.

If you looked closely, you would find a path among the darkness, just enough light in the sky to fill the road so that occupants could see people nearby but not enough to spot anyone in the distance.

A few moments later, a set of clouds once again shielded it from view from the world. And then it rained.

In the centre of the path was the body of a woman, an orange haired boy of nine years old sitting by her. There were a few small patches where blood could be seen but the majority of it had been washed away by previous showers. It wasn't the first time it had begun to rain after all.

Ichigo wasn't sure how long he sat there on the ground. Time was a foreign concept to him currently. He was sure it had been something close to two days but he wasn't sure.

He hadn't moved from his spot once. He hadn't eaten, he hadn't drunk, he hadn't slept. All he did was stare at his mother, hour after hour.

Part of him was hoping it was a dream. Just a really bad dream. A nightmare even. All he had to do was wait till he woke up and everything would be fine. His mother would be right by him with a drink and a reassuring smile, and all his fears and worries would fade away. He just had to wait.

"It's a lie."

Ichigo ignored the voice. He had been hearing it for some time now, coming from his head. The voice was weird but he assumed it was the part of his mind that was actually facing reality.

"She's not waking up. Get over it."

Ichigo tried to keep calm as he once again tried to shake his mother awake. Like all the previous attempts, there was no response.

"Face it. She's dead."

Ichigo did his best to drown out the voice, his thoughts still focused on his mother. He couldn't face the fact that she was dead. She couldn't die. She just couldn't.

"But she did."

He wondered what his dad was doing. Was he waiting at home for them? Perhaps he believed they had decided to stay a few days at the town and was simply waiting for them to walk through their front door, a goofy grin on his face ready to welcome them back.

How would his dad react when he learned of his mum's death? Would he be devastated? Would he be indifferent? Would he be calm about it while he hid the pain?

"That's not what you're worried about is it?"

For once, he listened to the voice. It was right about that. He was more scared of how his father would react when he learned of what he had done.

His mother had died protecting him. It was his own stupidity and his own powerless that got his mum killed. If he had been stronger, he could have defeated the monster without her needing to sacrifice herself for him. If he had been smarter, he could have seen the trap for what it was and wouldn't have approached so recklessly. His mum could have dealt with the monster then from a distance.

But who was the real monster he wondered. Would dad and the twins still look at him the same? Or would they look at him like he was the monster? He was the one who caused his mother's death, and he was the one who would have broken their family apart.

What would happen now? His mother had been like the sun to them all. Their lives revolved around her, no matter how much she denied it. Dad could look after Yuzu and Karin but why would he look after a monster like himself? He would be better off dead to him.

"You're such an idiot. You're too weak."

Ichigo nodded his head. That part of his mind was completely right. And he still did love his family, even if he was the one who broke it apart. If he was to return home, he could just as likely get them killed too.

He stretch as he took to his feet, wobbling from a mix of lack of food, lack of sleep, and lack of movement over the two days.

As he straightened himself, he let his eyes finally leave his mother's form to scour the area nearby.

It was the same as before. Dark and dreary. The rain showed no sign of letting up yet but it represented his mood perfectly. He was starting to dislike the rain. It was so depressing, the feeling of rain falling on him with the most important person in the world to him dead by his feet.

A rustling in the bushes nearby could be heard but he ignored it. It wasn't the first time he had heard it. He had originally though it had been an animal or something but he hadn't bothered to find out. Only the fact that he heard a cough every so often was the clue the sound came from a human.

He doubted the cough and the rustling were accidents. They happened too often for that. It was more like the person was trying to get his attention.

Should he see who it was? What else was he suppose to do now anyway? He doubted he would be welcome at home so perhaps it would be better to risk approaching the spy.

In the end, it wasn't his choice. The bushes kept rustling until he finally spotted a man stepping out of them from his crouched position.

He looked very strange compared to people he had normally seen. He had very messy blond hair, though it was so pale as well, with a small tuft of it hanging between his eyes. Over his normal clothes, he had a brown coat on with a pattern of white diamonds around the bottom of it and he also seemed to be wearing an old style of wooden sandals for some reason too. On the top of his head was a striped green and white bucket hat, and in his right hand was a wooden cane.

The man pulled out an umbrella from the bushes before opening in and walking towards Ichigo. As he got closer, Ichigo was able to examine him more easily.

The man moved strangely, similar to his father when he was being silly. It looked almost practiced so that he wouldn't appear to a threat. And it was working. He almost felt at ease in the man's presence.

"Why hello there!" The man drew out each word as he spoke. "Why I didn't expect to find anyone out here late at night! I'm surprised I even found the path!"

Ichigo didn't even flinch or respond to the man.

"I see." The man dropped all pretences about being an idiot and straightened himself. His movements became more calculated with each step and he had replaced his goofy look with a serious one.

"Why were you watching me?"

"So you did pick up on the hints I dropped. I thought you did."

"Do you want something?" Ichigo was getting impatient. He wished the man would just get to the point of what he wanted instead of skirting around it.

The man nodded at the boy. "I'm sorry about your mother. Loss is a terrible thing."

"You shouldn't feel pity for me." Ichigo snuck a glance back down towards his mother's body. "I'm the one that got her killed."

The man looked like he wanted to say something before he seemed to halt mid word and changed what he was about to say.

"I won't try and comfort you then." The man took a step towards Masaki's body and crouched down, closing her eyelids. "I'm not good with that stuff anyway."

"Who are you?"

"Me? Kisuke Urahara. Mage, scientist, shopkeeper. I'm a lot of things."

"You never said why you were watching me?"

"I didn't." Kisuke stood back up and looked at the boy, using the umbrella to shield them both from the rain. "I sensed your Magic. You've got a lot for someone your age."

"So?"

"Tell me. What do you plan to do now?"

Ichigo was caught off guard by the sudden change in topic. "I…"

"You don't know do you."

"I can't go home. Not after what I've done."

"I see then." The man seemed to be waiting for something, as if wanting him to continue.

The two stood there in silence for a moment, Kisuke finally ending it when he realised he wouldn't get anything else.

"If you had power, what would you do with it?"

Ichigo looked up at the man inquisitively before he turned back to his mother's body. His gaze hardened as he took in the sight before him.

"I would protect everyone who's important to me."

Kisuke smiled at the boy. "A strong answer. That's good. What's your name?"

"Ichigo."

"No surname?"

Ichigo looked away from his mother. "I don't deserve to use it."

"I see. Your choice then." Kisuke looked at Ichigo, as if judging him. He seemed to come to a decision quickly if the nod was anything to show. "Tell me Ichigo, would you like to learn how to become stronger?"

Ichigo looked up at the man determinately. "How?"

Kisuke extended a hand towards the boy. "Follow me."

Ichigo didn't hesitate. He shook the man's hand and followed his lead as he led him away. Someone would find his mother's body and would hopefully believe he died with her. It would be better that way.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

When Ichigo woke up the next day, he had to remind himself where he was to stop himself from panicking.

The man, Kisuke, had lead him to a town much further away that the previous. They had travelled for hours on end and hadn't stopped once. He hadn't complained though and had just kept moving. The town they had arrived at was bigger than the previous one he had visited and seemed far busier. They didn't head into the town though, instead going up towards the nearby hill to where a small shop had been built.

Kisuke had given him a room for him to rest in. He didn't question why it was already prepared for him, instead just glad to finally get some sleep.

He yawned lightly as he got up, heading over towards what Kisuke had shown him as the dining room.

"So you're finally up."

Ichigo turned to the voice as he entered the room, acknowledging Kisuke as he entered with a nod.

Kisuke gestured towards the table, Ichigo spotting the food on the table. He didn't need any more acknowledgment than that before he dug in. Two days was a long time to go without food for, especially when you were still just nine years old.

Kisuke helped himself to a few pieces, mostly sticking to observing the boy. He waited till Ichigo was finished before he finally spoke.

"I trust you will want to get started on your training won't you?"

Ichigo stared straight at the man and nodded. "Yes."

"Excellent." Kisuke snapped his fingers and a hole in the floor opened up, dropping the two down. Below them was a training grounds of some sorts with rocks of various sizes scattered all over the place and a clear blue sky above it despite the area being underground. He would have examined it a bit more but it was then that realised how high they were still, and they were falling fast.

Ichigo couldn't help but scream. There was no way they would survive this. Kisuke thought simply grabbed the orange haired boy and hit the floor. When the dust settled from the impact, Ichigo could see that despite taking falling from such a distance, Kisuke was completely unharmed.

"How…"

"Indeed. How? Many Mages would ask how something like this would be possible. The stronger you get with Magic though, the more resilient your body can become and the more damage it can take. All you have to do is reinforce your body with Magic to lessen the damage."

Ichigo looked at the man in amazement. Would he be able to do that in the future?

"Yes," Kisuke said, answering Ichigo's question without it being voiced. "It will come naturally to you as time passes. For now, let's focus on the Magic I'm going to teach you."

Kisuke held out the cane he had earlier before he grabbed the handle of it and pulled. As the handle came out, a blade could be seen attached to the end of it, the rest of the cane acting as a sheath for the blade.

"I'm going to teach you the Magic of a Shinigami."

"Shinigami?"

"Yes." Kisuke reached into his coat and pulled out a small diagram. It contained just three words, all cycling round to the others. "Shinigami. Quincy. Hollow. What is the common factor amongst these three?"

Ichigo drew a blank. "I don't know."

"I'll explain each one first then. Try and guess afterwards."

Kisuke held up his sword.

"This is what is known as a Zanpaktou. Have you ever seen one before?"

Ichigo shook his head. "No. Should I?"

"You might have done. Your father's a user of this Magic after all."

"WHAT!"

"Huh?" Kisuke raised an eyebrow. "Did he never tell you? Then again, I saw him a bit when he and I were younger. He was always careful with what he told people no matter how stupid he acted."

Kisuke put a hand up before Ichigo could say anything else. "A Zanpaktou is a piece of the wielder's soul. From it, we get our strength. No Zanpaktou is the same, no matter how similar some may seem. This forms the backbone of all Magic a Shinigami uses."

Kisuke raised a hand before pointing the hand's index finger towards a rock nearby. "Hadou Number 4: Byakurai.

Energy gathered around the finger before suddenly expelling out, firing as a bolt of lightning towards the rock and piercing straight through it.

"That is the second part of Shinigami Magic. Kidou. Whether you use Bakudou or Hadou or even Kaidou, they all can only be used by a Shinigami."

"There's a lot of Kidou that a Shinigami can use and most will find that they prefer certain Spells to others. I myself prefer using a lot of Bakudou before using a strong Hadou spell but as you saw, even low level spells are powerful too."

Ichigo nodded in understanding. "So that's what I'll be learning from you?"

"Yes. You are most suited to using Shinigami Magic due to your high levels of Magical Power. Anyone could technically learn it if they wanted to, but you need to have first not gone into a disciple of Magic and you need to have a large amount of Magical Power to reach the potential that you have available."

"Why?"

"Why?"

Ichigo rephrased his question. "Why is the disciple part important?"

Kisuke tilted his head at the boy. "Your parents didn't teach you much about Magic yet did they?"

"They were going to soon," Ichigo protested embarrassingly. "It's not my fault I don't know much yet."

"I see." Kisuke spared the boy further embarrassment by jumping straight into explaining. "There are hundreds of types of Magic in the world. Some small, some massive. Take Magic involving ice as an example. There is Ice Make Magic, Ice Dragon Slayer Magic, Ice Sword Magic, the list goes on. One thing they all have in common though is that they align the Mage's container to that element."

"Does that limit them to that one Magic?" asked Ichigo.

"Some think so but it was proven not to. What it does is that it makes that Magic easier for them to learn and use since the Magic in their body has naturally taken on some ice like natures."

"You will notice thought that a lot of Mages can still learn other elements. Some Magic aren't even elemental related as well. The principle will still stand with them but once your core aligns after prolonged use, it won't chance. A small section of the core is unaffected I discovered but that isn't important."

"You see, a Shinigami uses raw Magic in their attacks. Byakurai may have been a lightning attack but that nature came to it after the energy formed. And that is why no one can learn Shinigami Magic if they have already gone too far into another Magic. You need a completely fresh core so that the container inside you will keep the Eternano you body absorbs in its base form. Do you understand?"

Ichigo nodded. "Yeah."

"Good. Now then, onto Quincy. They require a fresh core as well but they don't need to have massive amounts of Magic. A Quincy gets most of their power from the atmosphere and combines it with small amounts from their own core. It's why it needs to be pure Eternano else it can't mix with the particles in the atmosphere."

Kisuke raised a hand as if holding something.

"In my hand are countless particles of Magic. Eternano. A Quincy draws these particles in at a rapid rate and uses them to fight. They can form weapons out of this very energy, normally bows though. There is a whole range of techniques they can use too but I don't have any knowledge of them, just like no Quincy knows what the limits of Kidou are."

"Did you know any Quincy?"

Kisuke let out a small laugh. "I heard of one. Your mother."

"Mum was a Quincy?"

"Yes."

"But I don't understand…" Ichigo looked confusedly at him.

"Ah." Kisuke understood what he was trying to say. "You wondered how she could die if she was so strong?"

"Yeah."

Kisuke scratched his head in embarrassment. "Well the truth is, we aren't invincible. I know I make it sound like we are but we aren't. Even giants can fall."

"Still…"

"That thing that killed your mother and tricked you… It was a Hollow."

"A Hollow?"

"Unlike the two before, a Hollow follows different rules. A fresh core is not required. All you need to do is learn the spell to become a Hollow and you will become one."

The hat on Kisuke's head slid down, covering part of his face. Ichigo could still feel the warning in his words though.

"Do not let people ever use this spell. I won't tell you it because it's better that way but if someone tries to use it, stop them. You will recognise the words even without hearing them once. If someone uses this spell, they sacrifice everything and become nothing more than a creature of instinct. They don't listen to reason and don't care for morality. They will just eat and eat and eat."

The tone shifted back to before as he finished, continuing on to the rest of his explanation.

"Most of the time, it's Dark Guilds that dare to do such a thing. A weak Mage can have their power grow exponentially as their body explodes and reforms, rebuilding their body's container to accept more and more Magical Power and by rebuilding it, resetting it. A Hollow's body is denser, stronger, tougher. It can hold itself together far stronger than a normal Mage's body."

"Because of this boost in power, many Dark Guilds can create powerful troops quickly if they so desire. Few do though. Not many people want to sacrifice their rational mind to do so and few leaders of those guilds share the information because they want to control their members. Hollows can't be controlled easily."

"Like a Shinigami though, their powers are determined by their soul. It's a lottery really which puts a lot of people off. A Shinigami will always get something powerful in their Zanpaktou. A Hollow won't always as most of their power went in reforming the body."

"Now then," said Kisuke, looking at Ichigo expectantly. "What is the common factor among the three?"

Ichigo pondered the question silently. What did they all have?

The soul factor was just Shinigami and Hollows so that wasn't it. Neither was it high Magical Power since Quincy didn't have that either. Hollows didn't seem to have anything like Kidou or whatever the Quincy might have and they did require a fresh core originally so that was out. What could it be?

One similarity between them though was that they all drew out energy from their core. Could that be it? It didn't seem right though.

The energy flowed out and then what? It did something. With Hollows, it created their body. For Quincy, it created weapons. For Shinigami, it went into their Zanpaktou.

Something tugged in the back of his mind. Something his mum had told him years back. What was it? It was a story about magic and how there were two types…

Ichigo looked up at Kisuke. "All three have traces of both types of Magic."

Kisuke smiled at the boy. He caught on well. "Correct. All three of these Magic are unique in that they are both Caster Types and Holder Types."

"But how? I thought that was impossible?"

"Magic," Kisuke said cryptically. "In all fairness, I don't think anyone truly understands why. Maybe it's because all three use Magic in its purest form and maybe it isn't. No matter what the answer, it doesn't change anything. Magic is both a science and a mystery, doing things of miraculous scales without any explanations behind them."

"Now then. Do you see these arrows?" He gestured towards all the arrows along the diagram. Two left each word and went to the other two. "No Magic is left alone. Like some elements are weak against another, so are these Magic. Generally, Shinigami are best to fight Quincy and Hollows and the same for them. A way of balancing things."

"It's not just with these three. Dragon Slayer Magic allows the user to eat the element of their type of Magic. Something like that needs an equaliser and for that, it takes the form of God Slayer Magic and Demon Slayer Magic."

"I understand."

"Good then."

Kisuke watched the boy carefully. He took in the information well. Faster than he had expected. How would he take to Shinigami Magic? It would be interesting to see. He was still a scientist at heart and he couldn't resist a good experiment.

"Right then. The first step is to awaken your Magic and bind it to Shinigami Magic."

Ichigo tilted his head curiously. "How do we do that?"

Kisuke grinned diabolically. "We drop you into a hole and wait to see if you manage to climb out with your hands bound."

Ichigo laughed slightly before he saw Kisuke wasn't. "Wait… Seriously?"

"Indeed. There's a unique place in Fiore where if you fall in, your body will try to take on the Magic of a Shinigami to escape. It's called the Shattered Shaft."

"Try?"

"Not everyone makes it. If you have Magic already, you can get out easily. But if you can't climb out before three days are up and you haven't awakened Shinigami powers, you will become a Hollow."

Ichigo gulped before hardening his gaze. "I can do it."

"That's the mindset you need but we aren't worrying about that part."

"Huh? Why?"

"Your father," Kisuke pointed out, "was a Shinigami himself. And that counts for something. In the Shattered Shaft, your body is trying to generate the powers. But since you are the son of a Shinigami, your body has the potential already there. You could fall into the Shattered Shaft and you would be out a moment later."

"All you need is a kick start." Kisuke raised the blade of his sword and aimed it at Ichigo's chest. "There is a technique unique to Shinigami. In times of need, where we can no longer continue to fight, we can temporarily transfer part of our powers to another. It won't stick around and it is useless to help against something taking down someone of my strength. Here thought, it will force your own powers to the surface."

"There is some risk involved. If I do this, there is a chance you can die. I am stabbing you straight through the heart and if it doesn't awaken your powers, the wound will actually happen and you will die. Do you understand?"

Ichigo nodded. "I said I wanted to become stronger. I can't do that without some risk involved."

"Good choice. By the way, if you die, I just want to say that I admire your resolve. Let's hope it all goes well shall we."

Kisuke pressed the sword against Ichigo's chest, aiming it carefully. If he was a millimetre off, then it would fail. He had to be precise. He aimed, waited to check before he could check no more. Moment of truth. He stabbed forward.

Ichigo felt the blade pierce his chest, a brief burst of pain filling his body before it disappear. Power filled his body and exploded outwards.

Kisuke stood there and watched happily as Ichigo's body accepted the power. It awakened all that energy within him and had released it all at once to form what he was seeing now. Massive winds had been generated from it, spiralling around Ichigo like a tornado. He couldn't even see the boy but this was a sure sign that he had succeeded.

And all of this energy was Ichigo's as well. He had only inserted a tiny bit of his power to kick start the boy's own yet the boy had this much power already. He made the right decision, he was sure of it.

The storm eventually calmed down as the winds cleared, revealing the boy collapsed on the ground. The sudden release of all that energy must have exhausted him.

He was pleased to see the familiar item by Ichigo's side though. A Katana lay on the floor, the blade slightly longer than most. The sheath was pure black with the hilt's cloth being a mix of both red and black. It just had a normal rectangle tsuba for the sword, unlike some he had seen before. Attacked to the sheath at the top and the bottom was a red chain like strap for Ichigo to have it strapped to his back with.

Ichigo had his Shinigami powers only a few minutes and he had already changed some of the details his Zanpaktou's sealed state normally would have. It was a good thing he had used his own power to awaken Ichigo's. The Shattered Shaft would have had no control at all for him to help focus and his Zanpaktou would have ended up massive and weak.

He'd let the boy rest for now. Then they could train. He'd make the boy stronger. He'd become stronger than everyone else. And maybe just then, he could do it. Maybe he would be strong enough to protect the world.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

Isshin gave his last patient a smile as he escorted him off the premises. It had been a slow day today which had been a relief. It was hard to heal someone when you had to leave at random moments because the twins had woken up, especially if he was in the middle of an operation.

He was lucky that they didn't take much to calm down. A few toys and they were luckily distracted until he could finish. And he didn't have to worry about them waking up too early mostly.

He looked out of the window at the rain falling from the sky. It had been like this for days now. Something felt wrong to him. Something terrible.

He hoped Masaki would be back soon. He couldn't help but worry about her. She had been gone far too long and it took all his willpower to not run out the door and search for her.

The twins were the only reason he hadn't done that. He couldn't leave them alone for too long. At least when he worked, they were right next door to him. He could reach them in an instance if they needed him.

Could Masaki have decided to take Ichigo to another town or something? He would be desperate to see more after being in Karakura for so long and god knows that Masaki was weak to him. He just had to be sad and she would be comforting him moments later, and she had done things like this before without telling him when they were younger. He shouldn't worry too much.

But part of him kept asking that same question over and over. Could the mission have gone wrong?

It was always a possibility. Missions could normally go as you want but there was always the chance of unpredictability. What if there were more than just a few deserters? What if she had been outnumbered too much? What if the problem was too much for her to handle alone?

He should have insisted on going with her. Karin and Yuzu could have been looked after by a neighbour for a day while they quickly did the job. But no, he let her go alone with Ichigo. He had been confident she could do it, and he couldn't deny that she was strong.

Being strong though may not have helped if she was too out of practice. Basic Quincy powers only went so far and sometimes even the Bluts weren't enough alone. If she got injured too much, she wouldn't be able it fight back easily without calling upon the higher level moves and they needed constant refining.

He slapped himself, snapping himself out of those horrible thoughts. He had to believe in her. What kind of husband would he be if he lost faith in his wife? Masaki would be okay. She always was.

Out of the window, he spotted something. For an instance, he believed it was Ichigo and Masaki. Counting though, he saw that it was only one person, about Masaki's height. It wouldn't be her though. She would never leave Ichigo behind, even if he was kidnapped or killed.

Isshin froze as the man got closer. He recognised that uniform, and that appearance struck a chord with him as well. The person had a wide dark collared jacket on with the edges and cuffs of it adorned by light stripes. A plain shirt was beneath it with some lace holding it shut, and a long cloth like skirt was worn instead of trousers. A thin hat rested on the person's head, matching the jacket along with having something similar to a medal stitched into it.

If that uniform wasn't a give away to who this person was, the fact that he was also a humanoid amphibian answered it clearly.

He had seen these type of people before. They were employed by the Magic Council quite a lot, from technicians to guards to even messengers. They were easily recognisable as to not cause any confusion with who sent them.

Why was a messenger of the Council here? And why was he heading towards his house?

Hundreds of thoughts were running through his head, each worst that the last. He was glad Ichigo wasn't here. If he was, it would have been dangerous if they had sensed his power.

But how had the Council found him? He and Masaki had gone to great lengths to disappear completely. There wasn't even a trail left to follow and it had been almost nine years. If they had found them before, they would have appeared already.

He approached the door slowly and opened it just as the amphibian went to knock.

"Ah." The amphibian looked surprised he had reacted so quickly. "You are Isshin Kurosaki aren't you? Formerly Isshin Shiba?"

"Yes." A simple answer. He would speak to the messenger and then send him on his way. He thought he was a he at least. He sounded like he was male but he hadn't met a female amphibian yet so he couldn't tell how differently they would look or sound.

"That makes things easy then." The amphibian turned around and nodded. Other amphibians joined him, all wearing the same clothes as the first. He didn't know how he hadn't spotted them before.

His heart broke as he saw what the new arrivals were carrying. It couldn't be. Not her. It couldn't be her.

"We are here to inform you of Masaki Kurosaki's passing," the amphibian informed him, as if speaking about the weather. "We are sorry for your loss."

Isshin didn't respond, instead taking his wife from them and carrying her inside. The amphibians at least had enough respect to wait for him to eventually return.

As much as he tried, he couldn't wake up. It had to be a dream. Why did Masaki die? What did she even do to deserve such a fate?

She looked so peaceful lying on one of the beds the clinic had. He wished he could just pretend she was simply asleep but he had to face reality. He still had Yuzu and Karin to take care of. And how would Ichigo…

Ichigo! He let his senses spread out as far as possible, searching for that distinct energy signature. No one nearby would have one as high as him so he could ignore anything that was weak and search for him.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He wasn't anywhere within his range.

Did the Magic Council find him and pretend he had died? No. That made no sense. If they had, why not tell him of Ichigo's passing as well. Say the body had been too damaged to survive and had broken apart. Anything to make it sound like he was dead.

They did none of that. It meant that Ichigo wasn't there when they found Masaki. That was the only bit of light he could see and he grabbed onto it with all his strength. They were still ignorant on Ichigo's existence and if he was lucky, they would stay that way. He could search for him himself when he got the chance. Someone could surely look after the twins for a few days.

But what killed Masaki? Was it the Magic Council? Would they go that far?

No. The residual Magic left on her and her wounds was too familiar. It was the work of a Hollow.

He hoped Ichigo got away from the Hollow safely or that Masaki took it down with her. That would probably be more her style, making sure nothing would be able to harm Ichigo.

Now all he had to do was deal with the Council's representative. They would want something. They always did and the fact they brought back Masaki's body instead of trying to dissect it meant they wanted to get into his good graces. He was worth more to them alive than the knowledge they would get about Quincy from Masaki's corpse.

The amphibian greeted him as he returned to the door. They hadn't moved from where they were standing at all, staring at him carefully as they observed him. They would probably be reporting back everything to the Council later on.

"If you are ready, we have a message from Era."

Isshin nodded. Era was the headquarters currently for the Magic Council. It was the equivalent of saying that they had a message for him.

"The Council states that they have been looking for you for a long time now and wishes you to return to active service."

Of course they did. They had never liked it when he had retired suddenly, without even a word of goodbye. All he had left was a note saying he was leaving and to not look for him. So they had ignored that had they?

He could see why though. He had originally worked for the Rune Knights as one of their generals, and even the other generals had admitted he was one of the strongest in the army. It was rare a Mage of his calibre even joined the army in the first place. Most preferred the lifestyle that guilds offered. Why would they willingly let one of their strongest members leave?

It was good at least to hear they had been successful for so long at hiding.

"How did you find me?" He had to know. What gave them away?

"The mayor of a nearby town informed us of your presence."

Of course he did. He had one guess at who it was. The request Masaki had taken was from the mayor of the town requesting help. He wouldn't put it past the man to have worked out who they were and had informed the Council. That kind of information could be used in a variety of ways, either for personal profit or the good of his town.

"We were requested to tell you that your presence is mandatory."

Isshin felt his blood boil. When he spoke, his voice was loud and his tone cold.

"Are you threatening me?"

The amphibians flinched at his voice, taking an involuntary step backwards. He was already releasing some of the grip he had on his Magical Power and they could feel it. They were scared.

They were brave though, still attempting to finish passing on their message.

"The Council is willing to let your leave of absence stay authorised as long as you return. Failure will result in your arrestment. Your children will be placed into care following your imprisonment."

They wouldn't put Yuzu and Karin in care. They would study them. They would try and find out if they had potential to be their tools and if so, they would make them their new weapons.

That mayor must have had some Magical Power. Perhaps he had sensed Ichigo's own power and had informed the Council about him. If they believed he was dead, they would want to see if any other children of his would have similar strength.

He knew he had no other choice. He had to accept. He knew it and they knew it. It didn't stop his next response though.

"Get out."

The amphibians looked at him curiously. "Have you decid-"

"I SAID GET OUT!"

The amphibians froze before running. They weren't fools. They had passed on the message, and they had been informed an answer wouldn't be given that day. Their job was done. Now they could listen to the angry Shinigami and get out of the town. They didn't want to find out what would happen if they stuck around.

Isshin slammed the door shut before going straight back to Masaki and taking a seat by her. The Council wouldn't take that as a no. They knew how he acted and they knew he would accept their terms. A week. That was the time he would give it before leaving. Enough time to sort out any affairs he had left and head down to Era.

As long as he did what they said, Yuzu and Karin would be out of their grasps. That was their only chip they had to bargain with. Until Yuzu and Karin were old enough to stand on their own, he would follow the Council. And maybe if he was lucky, he could find something about Ichigo.

He couldn't search normally for him now. The Council would watch him like hawks. They wouldn't be sure of what he looked like hopefully, if they even knew if Ichigo was alive or not, and so he could throw them off the trail. For now, he had to pack. Era was calling.

At least Yuzu and Karin could grow up more normally that Ichigo. He could only hope Ichigo would be okay.

"Stay safe Ichigo. Stay safe."

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

That's the end of that Arc. Next chapter, we're skipping forward slightly to Ichigo's arrival at Fairy Tail and his meeting with Laxus for the first time.

I hope you all liked this chapter. No battles here like last chapter and instead just the results of that chapter instead. Did you understand my explanations for Shinigami Magic? I tried to explain how it worked to the best of my ability.

It also spread out into other branches as you saw. Dragon Slayers, God Slayers, and Demon Slayers was the main example of another trinity that I could think of as all three would be able to eat their respective element, though Demon Slayer Magic was inspired by many examples you would have already seen on it.

Anyway, till the next time. I've been Takei. Thanks for reading.


	4. A New Fairy

So Chapter 4 is a shorter arc. Think of this as the Arrival Arc. Ichigo's arrival at the Fairy Tail Guild is only one of the reasons for the arc title. Try and work out the other reason.

Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or Bleach. Shame, it would be great if I did.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

**A New Fairy**

Ichigo looked around the city in front of him as he approached it wearily. Magnolia Town. It had taken him days to finally manage to get here and it made him wish he had taken the train when he spotted the railway.

For now though, he decided to simply take in the sights. It wasn't anything special most would say compared with other cities yet there was this friendly atmosphere about it that you could feel even from the city edge.

It did look wonderful as well. Water ran through the city in canals before linking up to the edge of Lake Scilliora. From a distance, he could see some of the city's greatest features. There was a magnificent cathedral almost in the centre of the town and over by the shore of the lake, he could see his objective. Fairy Tail.

Kisuke had taught him for two years. He had taught him how to use his Zanpaktou efficiently, how to cast some Kidou, and how to survive in the world. He owed the man so much yet he hadn't asked for anything in return.

Of course, Kisuke couldn't teach him forever. He told him two weeks ago that their training was almost at an end. Protesting hadn't changed the man's mind. Kisuke had told him that if he stayed any longer, he would begin to learn less on how to use his Magic himself and more on how to use his Magic as Kisuke would.

He could see now how that could be a bad thing. He didn't want to be a copy of someone else. If you couldn't get strong on your own strength, you shouldn't try to copy others to do what they did. There was no meaning in it otherwise.

Still, he hadn't expected Kisuke to recommend that he should join a guild. It was a weird sentiment for him to suggest and he couldn't deny that he had always wanted to join one, but it still seemed weird coming from Kisuke. Kisuke even said that he had once joined the same guild once upon a time when he was younger which again didn't completely add up. Kisuke seemed to be too much of a recluse to have ever been a part of one.

Kisuke had no reason to lie though so he trusted in the man's words. It would definitely be good to see if he could meet people closer to his age. The one person he had interacted with over the two years was Kisuke, and the man only ever left the house to get supplies too.

Fairy Tail. It was an… interesting guild to say the least. Kisuke had given him some info about them along with a magazine or two about what people thought about it. It was growing in popularity slowly and was known for its eccentric Mages along with the damage they caused.

He had an inkling of why Kisuke recommended the guild after hearing that. He could be a bit destructive from time to time so Kisuke had probably believed he would feel right at home.

Would he be accepted though? The Guild Master was supposedly a man called Makarov Dreyar, who had been the Master of the guild for years. The third if he had checked correctly. Did the man have a certain test to find out if a Mage should be accepted or not?

If there was a test, he hoped it wouldn't be too bad. What if he had to name a load of facts about Fairy Tail's history or if he had to fight one of their members to prove their worth? He could do the first option to an extent, mostly due to the info Kisuke gave him, but there was no guarantee he could win in the fight. Sure, he could believe he could but he had only ever fought Kisuke. Other Mages wouldn't fight the same and if he was caught off guard or the Mage was too strong, he would lose, no matter how hard he tried to fight.

It was the big thing he was missing. Experience. It made all the different and the only way to get it was to fight many different opponents and learn how to adapt to unknown abilities.

If he was lucky, it would just be a Magical Power test or something. If you had a certain amount, you could join. In a way, that would make the most sense as you wouldn't want anyone joining if they hadn't developed the Magical Power yet. It would be like signing a death warrant for the kid.

He wouldn't have to worry with that test. Kisuke had said that most children didn't have nearly as much Magical Power as he did so he should be able to join easily if this was the test.

He couldn't wait around at the edge of town forever though. It must have looked strange to people to see an eleven year old kid standing and staring down at them.

The town looked even friendlier as he passed through it. Residents of the town were chatting amongst themselves and shopping around in stalls and shops. People would greet each other as friends, showing a rich community within the place itself.

He had a few odd glances as he passed people though. He guessed it was to be expected though. What he was wearing wasn't exactly normal for kids his age.

Kisuke had given him some money for the journey, along with enough to allow him to buy some new clothes and get started. He had just grabbed some simple clothes mostly. Black pants with a white top, the sleeves going down to between his wrists and his elbows. Over one shoulder though, he was carrying the top of a Shihakushou. It had proven quite good at protecting him from the cold weather on the journey despite it seeming to be a thin material.

Kisuke had given him one before he had left, saying it was a farewell present from him. If it got damaged or he outgrew it, he would need to find a replacement but for now, it was still in good condition.

Over his other shoulder though was his Zanpaktou, his hand holding the chain to keep it from falling. He must have looked strange to people. How often do you see a kid carrying around a sword like his?

A few towns back, some thugs had actually tried to take it from him, saying little kids like himself shouldn't have dangerous things like that. They were probably still in hospital or in jail now. He hadn't liked their attempts at trying to steal from him.

He was cut short from his thoughts as he approached the guild itself. The building was definitely good to look at.

There seemed to be three floors to it from the outside, each floor smaller than the last as it went up. The roofs sloped upwards on the building at and the top, there was a round and pointed dome of some kind.

The roof that the dome was on connected to had three flags, the length of the wall of the third floor. While he didn't know what the two flags at the side represented, he was sure he knew what the first was. The Fairy Tail logo was imprinted straight in the middle of it, there for all to see.

Above the entrance was a sign with the guild's name, a fairy on each side of the sign with a heart above it.

Once thing that he noticed was that there were a few signs of damage around the building. A few windows must have been replaced because of damage though he wondered why some of the walls looked like they had been destroyed. The guild already seemed to be living up to its reputation.

It was strange. Now that he was outside the guild, he actually felt nervous. That was new. When was the last time he had felt that? With Kisuke, you didn't have time to be nervous as that was an opportunity waiting to be exploited.

Steadying his nerves, he marched up to the door and opened it.

The guild was much louder close up. He had heard sounds from outside but it was much rowdier inside. There were Mages all over the place, talking, fighting, even showing off a new trick they had learned recently. Some were boasting about their latest mission while some talked about their families to one another.

The guild's interior was far less as extravagant as the outside, instead built for comfort rather than appearance. The main hall itself was basically a giant lunch hall with benches and tables all over the place. Over at one side, there was a small bar serving drinks to the guild members. By that same bar, a large board was placed, filled to the brim with requests. Some of the Mages of the guild were grabbed some at random while some were taking way too long at picking a job.

Over at the other side, you could see a stairway, leading up to the second floor. He wasn't sure what was up there but it looked closed off to most as no one in the guild was making any moves to move up there at any point.

A sigh escaped his lips. He couldn't just stand here at the entrance examining the place. He came to join the guild and that wasn't going to happen if he kept getting distracted.

A few of the members around him would glance from time to time at him as he walked past, obviously curious who the kid with the sword was. He ignored them, making a beeline for the bar. Hopefully someone there would be able to direct him towards the Master.

"Excuse me." The bartender looked down at Ichigo, pausing in his job for a moment. "Do you know where the Guild Master is?"

The bartender made to answer when one of the people sitting at the bar called out to him.

"Another round here!"

"Right away Sir."

Ichigo watched the man go back to his job quickly before he pulled himself up onto one of the seats in the bar. He'd just wait for the man to finish his jobs and for it to calm down slightly and then he would try again.

"You're new here?"

Ichigo looked at the man next to him, the same one who had ordered the round moments ago. The man's height was shocking. He was smaller than he was and he was eleven.

The man raised an eyebrow at Ichigo, making the orange haired boy realised he hadn't even answered the question yet. "Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"I don't know yet." Ichigo slowly took off the sword from his shoulder and rested it against the wall next to him, the Shihakushou top resting on top of it. "I need to meet the Master first and ask."

"You'll love it here," the man said, taking a big sip from his drink. "Fairy Tail is a place full of fun."

It did look to be true. So far, the guild had been interesting, despite some of the eccentric attitudes they were showing. Everyone seemed to care for one another and no one was left out.

"Is there a test of some kind?" Ichigo couldn't believe he just asked that. Yet if Kisuke had taught him anything, it was that it was better to get information when you can. You never knew when it would come in handy.

"A test?" The man looked completely confused at such a statement. "Why would we need a test for our members?"

"You mean-"

"Of course not my boy." The man let a large smile appear on his face as he stood up onto his chair. "We're Fairy Tail. We accept anyone as long as they are willing to accept us. All you have to do is ask."

Some subtle glances around the room showed everyone there agreed with the drunken man. Some raised their own glasses in toast to his words while some just cheered loudly.

"I'll do that as soon as I meet the Master."

"Okay. Let's hear it then."

"I told you. I need to wait until I meet the Mas…" Ichigo stopped talking as the man's previous words appeared in his head. "You're him aren't you?"

The man gave him another smile. "Makarov Dreyar. The Third Master of Fairy Tail."

"I see."

Makarov kept staring at the boy. "I'm still waiting."

Ichigo looked at him in shock. "Why the hell do I need to say it? I told you just a minute ago that I wanted to join."

"Come on." Ichigo couldn't believe the Master was actually whining. "Humour an old man."

"Fine then." Ichigo resisted the urge to scowl. It wouldn't make for a good impression. "My name is Ichigo. Please may I join the guild?"

"That's more like it." If the Master noticed his lack of surname, he didn't say anything. Instead, he leaped over the bar and rummaged around under the table for something.

"What are you doing?"

"Just stay there." The Master seemed more frantic now. "Hey Macao. Where did the guild mark stamp go?"

"I thought Reedus had it," shouted back a blue haired man, purple flames dancing around him. "Try him."

"Sorry Master." The man in question held up the stamp for the Master to see before throwing it over. "I needed a closer look at the mark for my painting."

Makarov caught the stamp before it even got close, extending out his arm to grab it. Ichigo looked at him curiously, trying to work out what his Magic was. The kid was a strange one, but when had a Fairy Tail Mage ever not been strange.

"Okay then." Makarov held out the stamp. "Where do you want your guild mark and what colour?"

Ichigo held out his left hand and showed the man his palm. "Here. Black if you can."

"Here we go." Makarov placed the stamp on Ichigo palm and pressed down, a faint flow illuminating under the edge of it. When he removed it, the Fairy Tail emblem was now on Ichigo's palm. "Now you are an official member of Fairy Tail."

"Thank-"

"And you know what that means?" Makarov turned to face the entire guild, raising his glass to the sky. "It's time to party!"

"YEAH!" Ichigo could only watch as the chaos was unleashed. Sure, it all started off fine. People were raising the glasses and dancing when suddenly someone bumped into someone else.

Of course, that guy had to go and punch the other guy in retaliation and he would fight back and it all went downhill from there. If one attack missed someone, it hit someone else and drew them into the fight too. It only took a minute for the entire guild to break out into an all out brawl.

None of them truly seemed angry at each other though. They were enjoying fighting one another. It was like when he fought with Kisuke. It was fun, though theirs had less training and near death experiences.

The Master was just sitting there next to him, watching the fights with a laugh. It was obviously an everyday occurrence around here since he wasn't worried in the slightest.

"Say," said the Master, drawing Ichigo's attention back to him. "What kind of Mage are you anyway?"

"I use Sword Magic." It wasn't exactly a lie. Zanpaktou were swords first and foremost and they did make up most of his Magic.

He wasn't sure why he was telling half truths though. It seemed Kisuke had more influence on him than he had though.

Makarov accepted the answer regardless though. Not everyone trusts someone moments after meeting them and not everyone was comfortable announcing to everyone what Magic they used. Besides, it was be clearer anyway once he did a few jobs. People talked and word travelled.

"I'll be taking a request of the board if you don't mind."

The Master gave a swift nod to the boy as he grabbed his stuff and wondered over to the request board.

A stream of doubts filled the Master's head as he watched Ichigo head over to the request board. Ichigo's abilities were unknown to him which made it harder to judge what missions he would be capable of. The boy's Magical Power was massive, greater than his own grandson's was, and Laxus was three years older than the orange haired boy.

Magical Power didn't always equal strength though. Could he use it effectively? Did he use lots of it at once or did he try and outlast his opponents.

It wouldn't be safe for him to judge straight away and the boy didn't seem to want to get involved in the bar fights. If he had done so, he could have gotten a glimpse of his ability to judge what missions he could take safely.

Someone would need to accompany the boy. Make sure he was okay and help if necessary. If Ichigo was a bit older, this wouldn't be necessary, but sending a kid somewhere alone didn't sit right with him until he knew the kid could defend himself.

The older members of the guild were out though. He couldn't send one of them along as they were too older. It was better to stick with people nearer your age group so you could relate to them easier.

Cana wasn't a good choice though. While one of their only young members currently, she was only nine and her Magic hadn't developed enough to go on the kind of missions Ichigo would probably want to go on. She still had to rely on the guild for most of her money at the moment since most of her jobs were cheap one from Magnolia itself.

That left Laxus. He was a bit older but he would have to do. And Laxus could at least help out well enough if things went bad.

"Laxus."

His grandson turned from what he was doing nearby at one of the tables to hear him. "What is it Gramps?"

Makarov pointed a thumb over his shoulder towards Ichigo. "I need you to keep an eye on the boy while he's on a mission. Make sure he can handle whatever ones he takes."

Laxus sighed before getting out of his seat. "Can't someone else do it?"

"No," came the reply. Laxus already knew the answer as he hadn't even bothered waiting to hear him. Hopefully the two would get alone well. If not, well… He kind of hoped Ichigo wouldn't be able to use all that Magical Power of his. Fairy Tail was getting more and more destructive over time.

Ichigo was halfway looking through the list of requests when he noticed the present of the guy beside him. It took him a second longer to take in the person.

His hair was completely blonde and spiked upwards. A lightning bolt scar went down his face across his right eye while a pair of headphones was currently around his neck. It was the Sound Pod model if he was not mistaken. You could never tell if it had been labelled correctly in one of the stores he had gone into.

"You want something?"

Laxus raised an eyebrow at him. "That's the first thing you say when you greet someone?"

Ichigo ignored him and went back to choosing a mission request. Before he could make up his mind, Laxus grabbed one of the board and showed it to him.

"Can you handle this kind of job?"

Ichigo read the request carefully. "Probably. Bandits aren't too hard to deal with unless in numbers from what I heard."

"Good. I was hoping you would be strong enough for at least that. I'm accompanying you for it."

Ichigo frowned. "I wasn't under the impression that I needed a babysitter."

"Look, I don't like this any more than you do but Gramps over there wants to make sure you can handle the missions you choose. Else, you could wind up dead because you thought you were strong enough for a job that you actually weren't. As long as Gramps knows you know how to choose wisely, you will be free for any mission you want."

"Gramps? Are you the Master's grandson or something?"

Laxus growled. "Yeah. Got a problem with it or something?"

Ichigo held up his hands in surrender. "None at all."

"Good." Laxus took the request before heading over to show it to the Master. The Master seemed to accept it from what Ichigo could see before he slung his sword over his shoulder and held onto his Shihakushou. If they were lucky, they could grab the train straight to where they needed to go. He definitely didn't feel like walking again.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

Laxus silently swore. The silence was unbearable.

The two Mages had been travelling for a few hours now, taking the train to shorten the journey considerably. At this point, they had almost reached the camp of the Bandits.

Over those hours however, the kid hadn't spoken once. It was driving him mad.

He wasn't sure whether to be glad he wasn't being annoying or angry that he wasn't saying anything. It just seemed so awkward all the time.

Maybe he should have interacted with people nearer his age a bit more. Cana was the closest though as many of the kids his age in Magnolia either didn't have any Magic or had so little that they didn't bother with it much or wanted to use it to be a soldier of the army.

He never got why people who could use Magic wanted to join the army instead of a guild where they could hone their powers, though with Fairy Tail nearby, it wasn't the greatest for inspiration. They were fairly strong but most of the members sat around the guild all day doing nothing more than drinking and partying.

Still, this kid was just so hard to talk to. He could relate slightly at least since he was clearly focused on the task ahead. It would be interesting to see how strong the kid actually was.

"You proficient with that sword?"

Ichigo looked at Laxus. "Yes."

"I see."

Again, silence. He had hoped that could have started a longer conversation than that but it seems he was wrong. Was the kid doing this on purpose or something?

"We're here."

Laxus looked in the direct the boy was walking in. He was definitely correct. You could see the signs of early defences around the camp. Traps had been placed around the area including some that seemed to be magical in origin. It meant there was a Mage here of some kind.

Going further in, they could see the beginnings of a wooden wall. The bandits must have been there for some time before hand as they had made themselves a nice little home for their camp. It explained why the request had advised caution. The bandits had a decent defendable position to hide in.

They were careful to dodge the traps as they went. Neither one of them knew what would happen if the traps went off but even if they weren't that dangerous to them, it would still put the camp on alert. Surprise was the best weapon they could use to approach the camp.

Eventually, they managed to reach one of the walls. Ichigo drew his sword and quickly cut a small hole into the wood, just enough for them to peek into the camp.

There must have been about twenty of them, all of them armed. They were laughing around by camp fires and tents, eating a feast. It must have been all stolen from the town nearby and their numbers explained why they had been so effective. They purposely choose a time where the city would be at its weakest and did a hit and run.

After seeing the defences, the town must have sent the request then or had lost some men while trying to storm the place. Superior numbers wouldn't have helped them much here if they lost a load of their troops before even reaching the walls.

"You up for this?" Laxus asked quietly.

Ichigo nodded before he pulled on the Shihakushou and securing the sword around his back. "Stay back remember. This is my mission. You're the babysitter. Just stand back."

Laxus scowled but accepted the boy's words. He was just meant to watch after all and only interfere if necessary.

"No seriously. Stand back from the wall."

Laxus looked at him in confusion before letting the kid lead him back a few steps. What was he planning to do?

"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of man!"

What kind of phrase was this? It was rare to see Magic that required a long incantation.

"Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!"

Ichigo raised his left palm ready and aimed at the wall. "Hadou Number 31: Shakkahou."

Laxus watched as an orb of crimson energy formed in front of Ichigo's palm before it was launched straight at the wall before detonating. When the blast cleared, you could see that it had torn a huge hole in the wall.

Ichigo looked at it in disappointment before walking in. Had he wanted the attack to be bigger or something?

The bandits froze as they turned towards Ichigo. An eleven year old kid had just torn through their defences like it was nothing and was now strolling into the place like he owned it.

A few were already going for their weapons. They weren't going to accept this easy. They would show the kid who was in charge here.

Ichigo watched the bandits prepare themselves as he walked towards the centre of the camp. His right hand went for the sword on his back and drew it in one swift motion. And then he waited, his sword ready.

One of the bandits couldn't take it any longer and charged straight in, aimed a club straight at Ichigo's head.

Ichigo didn't even bother looking at the man's surprise attack, instead swiping with his sword and shattering the club with one swing. Before the man could react, he found Ichigo's free hand appearing in front of his face.

"Shibireyubi."

The man saw a flash of white in front of his eyes before his body froze up and he collapsed to the floor. He could still see and hear everything around him, yet he just couldn't move.

"He took down Ray."

"Get him."

As if a switch had been flicked, suddenly every bandit was charging at him. Some were armed with spears, some had clubs, some had axes, and some had swords. It seemed like they had just grabbed any weapon they could find and were now throwing themselves at him, trying to avenge their fallen friend.

Ichigo looked at the bandits, shaking his head at them as they approached. They were too slow.

"Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws. Hadou Number 33: Soukatsui."

Ichigo already had his palm aimed at the largest group of bandits and they were too late to move. A torrent of blue energy fired from his palm, blasting all the enemies in front of him away.

The bandits froze as they saw the destruction the wave of energy had caused. They had lost a third of their numbers in a single attack and it had gone on to tear another large hole in their walls.

The bandits hit by the attack weren't going to get up anytime soon. Their groans of pain could just about be heard but they were too weak to move.

"Is that it?"

The bandits felt a chill go down their spins as they turned towards the orange haired boy.

"Is that really all you've got?"

Powerful or not, the bandits continued their charge. In the end, the boy was simply that. A boy. They would crush him with numbers when they got to him.

Laxus just stood there and watched as the kid dispatched one after the other. Their numbers weren't doing anything. The kid was simply too strong for them. If he couldn't block the attack without getting hit, he would instead just dodge all the attacks and strike down the bandits one at a time.

The kid was even managing to keep them all alive. No slash wounds were appearing on the bodies of the bandits which meant the kid was using a layer of Magic on the blade to dull the edge. It wouldn't kill the bandits but it did nothing to stop the pain the sword would inflict as it hit them.

And what were those Spells he used earlier? Shakkahou? Soukatsui? He had never heard of such a thing.

Those two Spells looked like they had traces of fire in them but then what was that Spell he used to take down the first bandit? That kind of proficiency came from dedication to one Magic only. It clearly wasn't a Fire Spell so what was it?

Then there was the damage those Spells caused. It was much more than he had expected the kid could do. The boy hadn't lied either when he said he could use that sword of his. He was taking them down with ease, and nothing they did to stop him was working.

It was impressive. The boy was no pushover that was for sure. He was almost at his own level if this demonstration was anything to go by. Hell, he probably could equal him. The kid was holding back, he could tell from the ease he was having.

It looked like Gramps wouldn't need to worry about the kid getting himself killed. If anything, he would end up taking quests that were too easy for him and would get bored instead.

He himself was getting bored. There weren't many bandits left but he couldn't resist. He jumped straight into the fight, taking down one of the bandits as he entered in one hit.

"What are you doing?"

Laxus glanced at the kid. "I'm bored, so I'm joining in."

He only got a nod in return. "Suit yourself."

Laxus didn't waste a moment. A flick of his wrist was all it took to fire off a bolt of lightning at the enemy, taking down an extra two who had stood too close to his target. One bandit made to attack him but before he even reacted to stop him, Ichigo was already there, the bandit falling.

"Thanks," Laxus replied gruffly. He quickly returned the favour by taking out a few going for Ichigo. The fight barely lasted much longer as the last few bandits tried to run instead of fight, all being taken down by the two Mages in a swift manner.

"So you're a Lightning Mage?"

Laxus looked down at the kid. "Yeah. And I guess you're not just any Sword Mage are you?"

He got a smile of acknowledgment in response. He must have passed a test of some kind. "I'm a Shinigami. That's my Magic."

Laxus whistled. Shinigami Mages were rare. He had only heard of them in rumours and the ones you heard about were normally much older or even dead. To see a practitioner of that kind of Magic here was incredible.

"WHAT HAVE YOU TWO DONE?"

The two Mages looked towards the sound of the voice, seeing an angry looking man at the gate. He must have been the leader of the camp, and going by the fact that none of the others used Magic, he must have been the Mage of the group.

"We just dealt with some trash," said Laxus, giving the man a sneer. "There's nothing wrong with that is there?"

"I'LL KILL YOU FOR THIS YOU BRATS!"

"Do you want to deal with him?"

Ichigo shook his head. "He's all yours."

Laxus smiled before he charged straight at the Mage, his body covered in lightning. The Mage had barely begun to form the start of an Earth Spell when he was hit dead on by Laxus's fist, falling to the floor. He twitched a bit before falling unconscious like the rest of the camp.

"You know," said Laxus. "We make a good team, you and I."

"We do," Ichigo gave the older Mage a smile. "I'm Ichigo."

Laxus returned the smile. "I'm Laxus."

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

They had gotten a hefty sum for their work. After the Rune Knights had turned up to arrest the bandits, they had picked up their reward from the town and it had added up to just short of two hundred thousand Jewels. It had increased a few times they were told since the bandits had made a few more raids in the time between them sending out the original request.

Now though, the two were sitting on the train back to Magnolia, arguing about that very reward.

"I told you, you're getting half of it. You did some of the work after all."

"And I told you, I was only here to keep an eye on you. Didn't you say yourself that I was nothing more than your babysitter?"

"You didn't need to help unless I was in trouble. You choose to get involved."

"You did need my help. You were getting bored."

"How does that translate to you being forced to help me?"

Eventually, Laxus found himself holding a quarter of the share of the reward. It was less than Ichigo had wanted to give him. The kid would have split the reward in half with him if he hadn't protested.

Besides, not only did he not help that much, but he had his own money. Ichigo was new to the guild and would need that money to get himself started. Still, one hundred and fifty thousand was still a lot and should be able to find him somewhere nice in Magnolia.

The journey back was a lot more fun than the one there. This time, the silence was gone as they finally had something to break the ice. Magic.

"So you've been training since you were seven?"

Laxus nodded at Ichigo's question. "Yeah. I pestered Gramps for months before he relented. My dad was… Well he wasn't originally supportive. My body was weaker then and it looked like I wouldn't be able to get very strong so he didn't want me to be upset later on I think."

"Something must have happened. You're not weak after all."

"Yeah." Laxus looked out the window. "Dad did something to help me. I'm not sure what he did but the next day, I felt stronger than I had ever felt."

"At least you got to start Magic younger than me. I wasn't allowed till I was nine."

"Yeah, that would-"

Laxus blinked before his eyes began to bulge out of their sockets in shock.

"Wait a minute, just hold on… Are you saying that you've only been using Magic for two years?"

Ichigo tilted his head curiously. "Yeah. I thought I did quite well though some things were slow to learn. I still have a lot left too."

Laxus just stared at him in shock. He had to be messing with him. When nothing like that happened, he just couldn't believe it. Two years? He was practically at his own level and he had been training for seven years. It was almost impossible to believe.

"Did I say something wrong?"

That was the scary thing. Ichigo didn't even realise how unnatural that kind of strength was. Two years and he was this powerful? What would he be like in a few more? He'd be a monster.

But, that could be a good thing too. Even if he became a monster, he'd be a Fairy Tail monster.

"Say, what do you think of Fairy Tail?"

"Fairy Tail?" Ichigo thought about that for a moment. He had been in the guild for less than an hour so he couldn't give it the best judgement. The members fought, they were destructive, they didn't seem too fussed with the Magic Council, and half of them were completely mad.

Yet, they all radiated something. It was like an invisible bond was between them all, uniting them despite their differences. They laughed when they fought, they welcomed newcomers with open arms, and they seemed to simple love being together.

It was different from being with Kisuke. With Kisuke, he had always felt this underlying feeling of respect and thankfulness for him. He had been his teacher and he had always been seen as the one to turn to for help, but Kisuke wasn't a family kind of guy. He hadn't felt the same he had felt when he had been with his mother and father and the twins.

Fairy Tail had that feeling. It felt like everyone around you was your brother or sister, your uncle or aunt, you grandfather or grandmother. And he missed that feeling. It felt like a home.

"It's wonderful."

"It is, isn't it." Laxus stared off into space, almost lost to the world. "The first time I walked through those doors, I knew there would never be another guild for me. Fairy Tail… it's both amazing and wonderful and more all at once."

"You know," said Laxus, cutting off anything Ichigo had been about to say, "I want to be the Guild Master one day."

"Really?"

Laxus looked at Ichigo, observing his reactions. Most people laughed him off when he said that or said maybe he would as his grandfather was the Guild Master. Yet Ichigo wasn't doing either. He was looking at him, as if he really could do it one day, and on his own power too.

How long had he wanted to see someone show that belief in his dream? Too long. Far too long. They all never saw him, just the Third's grandson. Finally, someone saw his own strength and acknowledged him for it.

"Hey Ichigo. Fairy Tail… I want to make it great. How about you?"

Ichigo smiled. "Aim for the top, or why try at all."

Laxus returned the smile. "Let's form a team. Me and you, let's change the Magical World. Let's take Fairy Tail straight to the top, and nothing less."

"As long as you make me our Ace when you become the Guild Master."

"Deal. We'll need a team name though."

Ichigo gave his head a scratch as he thought. "Team… Mage?"

"Seriously? That's the best you can come up with?"

"Let's see you come up with one then?"

Laxus accepted the challenge readily. "Team Laxus!"

"How big is your ego?"

"Fine then. How about Team Ichigo?"

"Don't compare our egos.

The two ran through name after name, neither coming up with one they could agree with.

"This sucks," muttered Ichigo. "How about we just call ourselves Team Fairy?"

"Team Fairy?" Laxus raised a hand to his chin in thought. "We do want to become the strongest and make Fairy Tail Fiore's top guild. Let's go with it."

"Are you serious? I just thought of the simplest thing I could."

"It's fine. Just go with it."

"Fine then." Ichigo pulled himself further into his seat as he watched the countryside slip by as saw Magnolia approaching in the distance. "Could be worse."

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

There we go. Chapter 4. We go for another time skip next chapter which takes us two years into the future. That Arc will last for three chapters before we go for another time skip.

Shibireyubi. That isn't an original spell. It is the one Kisuke used on Rukia when Ichigo fought that Menos in the first story arc in the manga. It's a low level spell in my opinion and is most effective on those without Magic. The stronger you are, the weaker the effects.

I hope you were all satisfied with the chapter. Now I've finished this one, I need to get started on chapter 8. I have more arcs to write and it's so much better when I get the whole arc done at once before releasing it later on. Shouldn't be too hard. I've got three weeks for it. Also, do you know how many times I have to ignore what word thought was an error? Fairy Tail is Fairy Tail, not Fairy Tale.

Let me know what you think and make sure to review. I love every comment and if you have an questions, feel free to ask.

Anyway, till the next time. I've been Takei. Thanks for reading.


	5. The Guild's Future

Sorry for any wait you may have had. I just finished proofreading this thing and uploaded it now. Anyway, I would like to thank you all for the support you have shown me so far and I hope to continue delivering the chapters you guys deserve.

Three chapters for this Arc. The most so far. I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or Bleach. Shame, it would be great if I did.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

**The Guild's Future**

Ichigo turned the next page of his book. Finally, some peace for him to study.

The guild had become more hectic than it was two years ago. Firstly, there had been that incident a year ago with Laxus's father. He remembered it clearly.

They had just come back from a job when Ivan had pulled them to the side. He said he wanted their help on a job.

If they had continued into the guild, they would have learned that Ivan had just been kicked out of the guild by The Master. It would have made things so much simpler that day.

But they hadn't. They had trusted Laxus's old man and followed him on his mission. They could believe what they saw.

Ivan waiting for them to fall asleep before he went on ahead to one of the towns far away and began to slaughter everyone there, demanding the secret to a Magic their town had hidden there. It was supposedly a Magic that could nullify other Magic and he wanted it for himself.

Ichigo and Laxus woke up the moment they heard the explosions nearby. They couldn't believe what they saw when they got there. The town was burning and Shikigami were running rampant everywhere, hundreds of them focused in blasts to cut down the residents.

That was the first time Ichigo had ever seen such anger on Laxus's face. Despite how his father may act sometimes, what he was doing now was hideous. And worst of all, he was meant to be a Fairy Tail Mage. This wasn't what a Fairy Tail Mage or any Legal Mage did. This was the work of a Dark Mage.

They were barely in time to save the last few people still alive. Ivan had been thorough in his search and appeared not long later with an old looking book in his hand.

When they had questioned him about what he had done, he just laughed in their faces and said he was doing what he needed to do to seek power. Weren't their goals the same as his?

The different was that they would never stoop to such a level. What Ivan did was wrong and could not be condoned.

Ivan had taken on a look of sorrow at that point and had walked towards them in shame… right until he tried to put a hand through Laxus's chest.

He demanded that Laxus's return the Lacrima he gave him when he was younger. He said that he only gave Laxus it when he was younger to harness its power, not to help his son, and it was within his right to reclaim his property.

That didn't go down well with either of them. He and Laxus had showed the man no mercy but in the end, despite that they had the upper hand, Ivan had managed to escape, switching himself with a Thought Projection at some point. It had been strong enough to have a physical body which had fooled them completely.

They had helped the people still alive to get somewhere safe before returning to the guild. It was on that journey back that Laxus admitted to having more than just Lightning Magic at his disposal. The Lacrima wasn't any ordinary one. It was a Dragon Lacrima which gave the user Dragon Slayer Magic. In this case, it had made Laxus into an Artificial Lightning Dragon Slayer.

They had fought a few times when Laxus used that power and it was much stronger than his normal Magic. He rarely used it though so it was more like a trump card for when things got tough.

Plus, it was very destructive. It made everything Laxus had done before pale in comparison.

They reported back what Ivan had done to the Master. He deserved to know. He was Ivan's father after all.

That was the angriest he had even seen the man. The Master was just about ready to march out after Ivan when the guild managed to calm him down. There was no point going after a man who no one knew where he was.

The following year had been a lot more… cheerful, if not as crazy. Three new members closer to their own age joined.

The first had been Gray. He was a younger kid, about eleven, with spiky black hair and the guild mark one the right hand side of his chest, just a bit below his collarbone. Around his neck was a pendent shaped like a sword, a stone in the centre of it.

What was strange about him though was his incessant need to strip. He didn't understand why the strange boy did it but it was annoying as hell. Gray didn't even realise he was doing it half the time. How someone could unconsciously removed their clothes without their own knowledge he would never know.

Mostly, the kid ended up walking around the guild in nothing but shorts. When he had first arrived, he had spoken with the Master in private about something. He had seemed upset when he eventually came out but still joined the guild anyway.

He had a very creative style of Magic. Ice Make Magic. He had even demonstrated it to a few people when they had asked by creating small constructs of Ice. Molding Magic was one of the more common types of Magic in the world but it was also one of the most versatile and unique ones. No Mage's creations were ever the same, even if they looked similar. If two created a shield each for instance, there were was a high chance that the shield's properties would be different. One may be able to take more hits and be large but the other could be denser allowing heavier attacks to connect with it.

It was the ultimate style for those who were creative enough. With it, you could make anything you wanted from your element.

After Gray joined, it wasn't that long till someone else did.

Erza Scarlet. That was her name if he remembered correctly. Just a year younger than himself the Master had said. Her long scarlet hair had been tied back into a plaited ponytail whilst the eye patch she originally had over her right eye had been removed.

Unlike Gray who seemed to wear little clothes, she was using them as to shield herself. Over the top of her normal outfit was the upper body pieces of an armour set, a sword at her side at all times.

He wasn't one to talk though. He kept his Zanpaktou with him and never let it out of his sight.

When he first saw her with the sword, he had thought she had been a Shinigami herself with how much she held the sword. It turned out though that she was just a Sword Mage, not a Shinigami Mage.

She was quite strict with many of the Mages in the guild, and was slowly making a name for herself amongst the guild. Even if she wasn't strong yet, she would get stronger, and then her threats for people to behave would be even more serious.

She hadn't shown any other Magic yet. She probably hadn't chosen one yet since basic Sword Magic alone wasn't powerful unless you combined it would something. An element perhaps to enhance the attacks of the sword.

The last was a pink haired boy who always had a scale patterned scarf around his neck. Natsu Dragneel.

He was Gray's age and the two were like fire and ice to one another, literally most of the time. Natsu was a user of Fire Magic but it went even deeper than that. Unlike Laxus, he was a true Dragon Slayer, taught by a Dragon itself. Igneel the boy had said he was called. Igneel, the Fire Dragon.

Being able to eat fire was both strange and cool, but most of the appeal was lost after watching Laxus do something similar a year back with lightning. The kid had one major fault though. He tried to fight everyone.

His normal opponent was Gray who happily accepted the challenge but most of the other older Mages refused until he was old enough. Cana wasn't comfortable fighting in the brawls that took place at the moment so it left him very few people to challenge.

Of course he had gone to try and fight Erza but she had managed to terrify him somehow. He must have lost badly as he rarely challenged her after that.

Laxus was of a similar nature. He would mostly ignore Natsu but the few times he had accepted, he had beaten him with one hit. He didn't even need to use his Magic to do so

He sometimes wondered if he should accept one of Natsu's challenges. Natsu had tried a lot to get him to fight but he always would dodge and never bother retaliating. Since he hadn't responded, he hoped Natsu would give up but he wouldn't. He had ended up resorting to Bakudou to restrain him.

Shibireyubi was one of his favourites to use but the boy unfortunately had a decent amount of Magical Power. That was that Spell's one weakness. Everyone had that spark of Magic inside them yet few could harness it. That spark was constantly moving through the body so what the Spell did was to stop that spark moving, freezing up the body.

It was another thing entirely to stop a stream of those sparks like Mages had. For Natsu, it could hold him still for about ten seconds and then it broke. Give the boy a bit more time and the Spell would be even less effective. The larger the source of Magic, the less Shibireyubi would last.

He would have to use a stronger Kidou soon enough. At least Natsu acknowledged that he wasn't allowed to try more than once. He respected some boundaries at least.

Like the other kids, Natsu had potential but right now, he was weak.

For now though, it was calm. Natsu had already tried to attack him today and now he and Gray had finished their own fight after Erza's interference. The guild was at that point where it was nice and quiet before the next brawl broke out, and he was taking this opportunity to read the book he had on him.

It had arrived not long after he had joined Fairy Tail, addressed to him from someone called Mr Hat and Clogs.

No one except him knew what that name meant. It was the nickname he once gave to Kisuke, used to make fun of his appearance. He got harsher training that day but it had been worth it.

The book was one he had seen Kisuke sometimes look over. A Kidou Spell Book.

It was helping a great deal. He didn't know where Kisuke found it but he wasn't complaining. Kisuke had a habit of finding obscure things anyway.

What was important about it was that now he could learn stronger Kidou. The ones he already knew were few and learning a new Spell without help was hard. Unlike most Magic Spells, a Kidou Spell had to be done exactly. You needed to know the exact way the Magic moved and the exact incantation if you needed one. They were Spells made for precise purposes which made them extremely tough to master.

Right now, he was attempting to understand how to use Oukasen. It was a Hadou spell that was close to Shakkahou and Soukatsui so he hoped it would be easier to master than some of the others. It wasn't.

He was almost done with the latest section of the page when he leaned to the left, a bottle flying past where he had been.

He scowled. "Who throw that?"

One of the guild members looked at him sheepishly. "Sorry Ichigo."

It was interesting to see how some of them tried to avoid getting into fights with him, though they didn't want him in the brawls anyway. He was like Erza in that regard. He would take things too far to make them stop. The different was that he was also a lot more powerful than Erza so it made things worse in a way.

Speaking of Erza, the girl was currently telling off some of the members about the damage they had caused recently on their jobs. The damage done by the guild had been increasing over the years and Natsu and Gray already seemed like they would take that one step further as they got older.

The Magic Council had to be getting restless and angry with them. The Master said not to worry but how could you not? The guild's future was at stake if they weren't careful. The Council could disband a guild as easily as they could create one.

"And you…"

Ichigo noticed Erza had stopped talking and it was only then he noticed that she was right in front of him. Had he caused too much damage on a job recently? He didn't think he had.

She pointed at him. "Why can't everyone be like Ichigo. You don't see him bring in any damage reports?"

That wasn't completely true, but most of the damage he did was directed away from buildings and such. It was the landscape that changed for him.

As Erza walked away, he could see she had her hand resting on the sword, holding it reassuringly, but also unsurely. He had wondered a few times what her past had been like but she never gave any clues to it when people had tried to ask.

The problem was that he could see she wasn't comfortable with that sword yet. It wasn't a part of her. Instead of it being her and her sword, it was her and a sword. She was treating the sword warily like she was afraid to use it.

He sighed. He couldn't leave it like this. If she kept this up, she would get nowhere and would be afraid to fight when she needs to most.

"Hey Erza."

Erza barely recognised what was happening before she felt herself being held by the back of her armour and carried outside.

"What are you doing?" she demanded, struggling to break free from his grip.

"Training. You're joining me."

Erza didn't try to break free much after that. Ichigo was the only other sword user in the guild so no one else could actually train her with the blade.

"Take me too."

Ichigo looked towards the Natsu at the kid's demand before dodging the flying body of that same kid. It seemed he was trying to attack him twice today.

"Maybe another time."

Ichigo quickly escaped outside before Natsu could get back up. He was sure that the kid would try watching or something but he didn't care too much. He had a swordswoman to train.

Instead of placing Erza on the training ground outside the guild, he chucked her straight across the field. The girl bounced along the ground a few times before coming to rest, fury crossing her face.

"That's good. You'll need to hate me if you want to fight me. Else you won't fight with everything you've got."

Erza snarled before drawing her sword, readying it in front of herself.

Ichigo examined her guard from a distance. There were too many holes in it and she didn't even have a solid grip on her sword. She held it too tightly like she was afraid to use it. She could get away with it against a weaker Mage but not against someone like him. Still, it was impressive she had something halfway decent when all she had done was improvise and guess.

"Aren't you going to draw your sword?"

Ichigo snapped his book shut before making it disappear, Erza trying to hide her surprise at the action. "Why should I? That's the question you give to an equal or one weaker than yourself. You aren't strong enough to make me use my sword yet."

The insult didn't sit well with Erza. She charged in like a berserker, swinging her sword at him.

It wasn't too hard to dodge her swings. She wasn't in sync with her own blade. It wasn't yet an extension of her. It was still nothing more than a tool, and she wouldn't be able to touch him with a tool.

Each miss got her madder. She really wanted to manage to land a blow on him it seemed. Was it just anger or did she really want him to acknowledge her and use his sword. Still, she was too far off that happening.

Erza didn't even have time to react. The moment her next swing hit thin air, Ichigo rammed his arm down on the blade's flat surface and forced her arms down. His fist connected with her chest after that and sent her tumbling back.

She rubbed her stomach as she stood up. The strike had obviously hurt more than she wanted to show. It was about right to give her a tip now.

"You're holding your sword too strongly."

Erza looked at him in confusion. "But I need to grip the sword strongly right?"

The sword. Not her sword. She probably didn't even realise the meaning behind what she said but she would in time.

"You don't want to grip the sword too much though. Are your hands uncomfortable? Are they sore?"

Erza nodded.

"You see. You need your grip to be more relaxed. Right now, if I had been attacking, you wouldn't have had a chance to counter. You'd be stuck defending till I slipped past."

Erza relaxed her grip but he could see she had relaxed it too much. Guess another demonstration was required.

He waited patiently for Erza to try and strike him again, dodging the swings once more and waiting.

The opportunity he was waiting for appeared much quicker than he expected. With a strong swipe, he hit the blade's flat surface and sent the blade flying from her hands.

"How…"

"I said relax your grip. You obeyed it too much and forgot you need to hold your sword. Try again and find the balance."

He allowed her to go and pick up her blade before watching her go through a few grips. She found it eventually. It would need some fine tuning but that was up to her on her own. He couldn't show her how to do everything. It was how Kisuke taught him.

She looked ready to continue so it was only fair that he should stay out a bit longer to help her. He kept up his dodging pattern for the next ten minutes, letting the girl tire herself out whilst she tried and got the feel for the new grip.

"Hey Ichigo."

Ichigo turned towards Laxus, ignoring Erza for a second. Erza however was already striking at this point. There was no time to warn Ichigo of her attack, and he wouldn't be able to dodge it easily without getting hurt this late.

What happened next was a complete surprise to Erza and the two kids hiding in the bushes watching the fight. As the blade was about to connect, Ichigo's hand shot out and grabbed the blade, halting it in its path without even sustaining a single cut.

"Hey Laxus. Need something?"

Ichigo released his grip on Erza's sword before walking over to his friend.

Laxus shook his head. "Not much. I need your help with something. Mind leaving the pipsqueaks?"

Something was wrong, Ichigo was sure of it. Laxus looked worried and it took a lot to get him worried.

"Sure. Give me a minute to finish up."

He walked back over to Erza who was still frozen in shock. It must have been shocking to see her sword get caught so easily by him.

"Erza." She snapped to attention as he spoke. "Have you given any thought to what Magic you are going to learn?"

Erza shuffled around nervously. "I… don't know."

"What do you like then?"

Erza had to think hard before answering. The one she gave was short and simple. "Weapons."

It made sense. She either enjoyed the feel of them or they helped her feel more secure. It was something physical and could provide a constant presence without using up any Magic.

There was someone like Erza in the guild that liked weapons. They had quite a few for different occasions due to an interesting type of Magic. What was it called? Oh yeah. That was it.

"Have you ever thought about learning Requip Magic?"

Erza stared back at him. "Requip?"

"Here," said Ichigo. "Let me show you."

He held out his hand and showed Erza as he brought forth the book he had before.

"How…"

"Requip Magic is a strange kind of Magic." Ichigo caused the book to disappear once more. "Think of it as a storage space. You can fit items in there and call upon them whenever you need them."

"Of course though, there are limits. I don't have a large area to store things in because I don't train with the Magic. I just don't use it much except for a small backpack for essentials I don't want lying around. You can store things dependent on how much Magical Power you have and how much mastery you have over Requip."

Erza nodded in understanding. "Can you teach me?"

"No." Erza looked upset at his answer. "Nothing personal but I'm not the best person to teach that kind of Magic. I know enough to hold a few things but nothing more about the Magic's mechanics. Try asking the Master or Bisca. One of those two can help you."

Ichigo began to leave with Laxus. He was almost back at the guild's back entrance when Erza called out to him.

"Is it possible to use Requip with armour too?"

"At the same time?"

Erza nodded.

"No idea. Never heard of it being done before. People say it's impossible."

"I see."

Ichigo smiled at the girl. "Why don't you prove them all wrong then? Show the world your determination."

Erza brightened up. "Thank you Ichigo."

Laxus and Ichigo headed into the guild before leaving through the front doors, Ichigo following Laxus blindly. It seemed what Laxus wanted to discuss was for private ears, else he could have spoken inside the guild or out in the training area.

They didn't head to Laxus's place, instead going to Ichigo. It was essentially their headquarters for Team Fairy.

The house Ichigo had gotten was fairly small and was on the outskirts of the city by the forest and by a cliff. It made him harder to find if he wanted to be alone and he could train outside without worrying about collateral damage. It had taken a lot of saving to get the place built and he had basically been living with Laxus for the first year at the guild until it was built.

Being this far out made it perfect for privacy about whatever Laxus had to say. And judging by the fact they didn't go to Laxus's home meant that he didn't want the Master to know about what he wanted to say.

They entered the house without a word and heading to the living area. The house didn't have much in it, mostly having spare rooms to either store stuff or to house guests if he had them. The rest of the space was for cooking and relaxing if there were guests there.

"When did you get a little apprentice?" Laxus asked as he made himself comfortable with a cushion on the floor.

"Don't," said Ichigo. "There is no way I'm taking an apprentice. For one, I'm thirteen. Second, she's a year younger than me. And Third, I'm not the kind of teacher your grandfather would approve of."

"So your methods would be a bit… unorthodox. So what?"

"I doubt the Master would appreciate me beating Erza up to an inch of her life and still demand that she gets back up in that state."

Laxus paused. "You'd really go that far?"

Ichigo shrugged. "I don't know. Sometimes, you need to be beaten into the ground to be able to stand up stronger again."

"I see." Ichigo passed Laxus a drink. "So what were you doing then?"

"Ensuring she stays alive."

"That bad?"

Ichigo shook his head. "No, but it'll better if we get rid of those faults now before she grows accustom to them. She'll be stronger because of it in the long run."

"And giving her suggestions for Magic?"

"She's a Fairy Tail Mage who didn't know what she wanted to do with Magic." Ichigo let out a laugh. "I gave her a push to find the Magic she would suit, along with the motivation to surpass it. Just because no one ever managed to do what she wants to do, doesn't mean it isn't possible."

Laxus raised his glass to Ichigo's. "Here's to her succeeding then, and to a strong future Fairy Tail Mage."

The two drank their drinks in silence, Ichigo waiting for Laxus to get to the heart of the matter.

"So then. What's this all about?"

Laxus sighed. "That obvious?"

"I know you Laxus. Something's up, and you don't want the Master to know."

"Here." Laxus threw a bunch of papers onto the table in front of them.

Ichigo bend down and picked up one of the sheets of paper. "Let's have a look then."

It didn't seem that important. Each one was just the normal budgets of Fairy Tail.

"Did you steal this from the Master's office?"

"That's not important." So it was a yes then. "What matters is the information on it. Compare that sheet with this one."

Ichigo accepted the sheet Laxus was holding out to him and examined the two closely. There weren't many differences. Similar expenditure on alcohol, funds the guild got from missions that month, money used for helping out the younger members…

Wait. Near the bottom of the list. What was it? Something about damages? Ichigo scrunched his brow as he focused on the details. According to this, there had been a significant increase in the costs the guild had been spending on damages done during missions. The guild wasn't suffering financially it seemed as they were getting in more money from jobs but still, the damage they did was increasing.

He picked up another and another and another. They all showed the trend. Damage costs were increasing as time went by. It rang a bell with something he had heard. Something about someone saying Fairy Tail had been becoming more destructive lately. He had ignored it at the time as a mere rumour but looking at this, that person had been right.

"That's not the worst of it."

Ichigo looked up at Laxus who had picked up the last few bits of paper.

"Read these."

Ichigo complied, scanning through the papers. Unlike before, these ones were more formal. They were letters to the Master.

"Should we be reading these?"

"Probably not," Laxus admitted. "But we need to. Just read them."

The letters seemed to be normal. They weren't out of the ordinary from what he could see. They simply spoke to the Master about asking him to tone down on the destruction Fairy Tail was causing.

There were a few of these letters though, each about a different complaint Fairy Tail had because of what they had done. And there was something in them. An underlying tone. A warning.

"They're threatening to shut down Fairy Tail?"

Laxus nodded. "Yeah. Not just yet but the warning is there. We're causing too much damage. And as time goes by, the guild will become stronger. Erza, Natsu, Gray, they all have potential. When that potential is unleashed, they will be powerful. How much damage would someone like Natsu do compared to the Mages at the moment in the guild?"

Ichigo realised where Laxus was going with this. "Too much."

"Exactly. And do you want to know the worst thing? It's that Gramps won't even do anything about it."

"He won't…" Ichigo couldn't believe what he was hearing. Did the Master not understand what would happen? If they kept up this level of destruction, they weren't going to continue as a guild. The Council would shut them down to end the problem and the guild would be scattered and-

"Fairy Tail will be gone," finished Laxus. The blonde haired teen must have come to the same conclusion that he had just.

"Why? Why won't the Master act?"

"You know, I asked him that same question. You want to know what he said?"

Ichigo nodded.

"He basically told me that if we want to watch Magic grow, we can't keep one eye over our shoulder at the Council. If they force us to listen to their ways, Mages will never be able to realise their full potential or experience the bonds Magic creates between us all."

Ichigo felt himself shaking with anger. "Does that idiot not realise that there's no point to it if we don't get to stay in Fairy Tail?"

"I don't think the Master believes that will happen. He's way too optimistic."

"What are we going to do? You won't ever be the Guild Master if Fairy Tail ends now."

"I don't know Ichigo. I just don't know."

Ichigo jumped out of his seat. "There's got to be something we can do. Perhaps if we-"

He was cut off by the sound of knocking.

"Are you expecting anyone?" Laxus asked.

"No. Very few people even know I live out this far."

"I see." Laxus quickly shoved the papers away. They both knew that the Master was one of the few people who knew where Ichigo lived and it won't be good if he found them with these papers.

Ichigo slowly approached the door, gripping his sword ready in case of any sign of danger. He opened the door in one swift movement and came face to face with…

An amphibian?

The humanoid amphibian stared at him, not even twitching. Then, it slowly reached into a pocket from the outfit it was wearing and handed him a letter.

"Fiore has need of your services."

Ichigo stared at the amphibian blankly.

"The Council will wait one week for you answer. If you accept, they will meet with you personally in Era."

The amphibian tilted its hat at him before walking off into the forest, silence following in its wake.

Laxus looked at where the amphibian had disappeared to before looking towards the letter Ichigo was holding. "That was a messenger from the Magic Council."

"They employ frogs?"

"Strange isn't it."

"Yeah."

The letter in his hand was too shocking to comprehend. Why of all people was he getting a letter from the Council?

The Magic Council governed all of the Magical organisations in Fiore. They were the highest power, surpassing every guild organisation around. The guilds had to answer to them, and to get a summons by the Council was rare.

That was if you considered the summoning to be to do with a court case or for an investigation. The words the messenger had said implied that they were actually sending him a request for a mission.

Why him? There must have been stronger Mages available, and he wasn't always good at being subtle. Half the time, the guild seemed to know he was arriving at the guild before he even reached the door. Any stealth jobs would be completely out of the question and there were plenty of Mages who were more destructive than he was.

Laxus seemed to have been having similar thoughts. Unlike himself though, Laxus seemed to have come to a conclusion.

"Open the letter."

Ichigo needed no more prompting than that. A quick rip and the letter was open and the two Mages were reading the contents:

_If you are reading this, then I assume you have decided to consider our offer. We here of the Magic Council have found ourselves in need of a unique individual to deal with a growing problem, and we have decided you have the requirements needed to fit the job._

So far, so good. Nothing to worry about in the start of the letter.

_The Dark Guild, Poison Viper, has acquired an extremely dangerous and deadly tool. In case of interception of this letter, you must understand that we can't go into details of this item here. We cannot share details about the tool either unless you have accepted the job._

A dangerous tool? There was a lot of secrecy around it if they didn't want to mention even its name.

_If left in the hands of Poison Viper, the consequences could be catastrophic. We require you to collect the tool from the Dark Guild and deliver it back to Era._

Back to Era? So it had been stolen. What kind of item could it have been if it had been stored in Era itself?

_Of course, we understand that you may be busy with other tasks. We would reward you gladly, along with paying for all damages caused around the time of the incident._

Ichigo looked at Laxus. They both were thinking the same thing.

_If you accept, please report to Era before the week is up. Time is not in our favour and we will need to find a replacement if you are unavailable._

_The Magic Council._

"Is that saying what I thought it was saying?"

Laxus nodded. "The Magic Council aren't just Mages. They're politicians too. And politicians always choose their words carefully. Always."

"They're willing to ignore the damage Fairy Tail has done recently if I take this mission."

"There's more." Laxus pointed at the letter. "I thought so when they sent you it and I was right. They say 'Around the incident'. Not just before, but after too. It's a subtle way they've done of promising the same thing for future missions."

"This… This is great." Ichigo couldn't believe it. This was their solution. Their way to keep Fairy Tail safe from being shut down.

"Ichigo." Laxus brought the orange haired boy out of his happy thoughts. "It may not be that simple. This job… the Council sent it to you. Why? They choose now to send it. They choose you and you're only thirteen. Why?"

"I think they have been waiting for this for a while Ichigo. They knew where you lived and know you are a member of Fairy Tail. They knew exactly what to offer you to ensure your assistance. But with the Magic Council, not everything is as simple as it seems."

Laxus pointed down at the letter again. "Poison Viper isn't that strong of a guild individually. Yet here, they speak of them as a growing threat. I doubt it's their members so what is this tool they got? Why is it so dangerous?"

Ichigo shook his head at his older friend's worries. "Don't worry Laxus. I'll be fine. Besides, this is the chance the guild will need to continue."

Laxus sighed. "No stopping you is there?"

"None."

"I see." Laxus patted the younger kid on the shoulder. "Be careful then. No point trying to stop you so I may as well say this. Be careful Ichigo. I don't think it will be as easy as our usual missions."

"I'll be careful Laxus. Don't worry. I'm a Shinigami."

Laxus accepted his friend's words but he couldn't help but feel worried. They wanted Ichigo so he would have to go alone. But what worried him most was still why they wanted him specifically. And he feared what would they expect him to do.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

There you have Chapter 5. We have two more chapters in this Arc here before the next timeskip so enjoy it while it is here.

So we got to see how Ichigo interacts a bit with some of the other new members. Erza kind of sees him as a teacher in a way and respects his strength. And he has now given her the determination to take Requip further than anyone else.

Natsu meanwhile may be an idiot and he may challenge a lot of people but he still respects people's wishes to extents. He can't not challenge Ichigo but he limits himself as to not press his luck too much. I think myself that he just won't want another Erza on his case or doesn't want to be completely obliterated like when against Laxus.

More with the Council and this secret job next chapter. I hope you liked this one and you will see signs in this arc that may be important in the future. I will keep them a surprise for now for you lot though.

Don't forget to tell me what you think with a review on the way out. You guys have been great with reviews so far and it really wants me to keep up with this story. I have so many ideas ready and they should be good too.

Anyway, till the next time. I've been Takei. Thanks for reading.


	6. The Way To Death

Chapter 6 here. Hope it lives up to your expectations. Pay attention to things as some parts will be relevant for longer than just one Arc.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or Bleach. Shame, it would be great if I did.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

**The Way To Death**

Era. It was a town unlike any he had been to. While the others had a calmer and casual charm, this town was instead more of a majestic feel. Each building had been built to stand out and to shine and they weren't even the main attraction.

In the centre of the town was a rocky mountain, stretching high above the rest of the city.

Resting on the top of that mountain stood a solitary building. It was the home of the highest power in Fiore. The Magic Council.

It was exhausting work climbing up to it. He obviously wasn't needed urgently enough to spare him from the torturous stairs so he had been left to walk up them. Every single one of them.

What possessed them to build up so high? He supposed it was probably in case of attack as few rogue Mages would be able to launch attacks up at them from the ground at that distance and few Mages had the ability to fly in the first place.

It also seemed to have a secondary purpose. He had noticed that people in the city looked up at the building in awe and respect. The Council was essentially using the height to make them look superior, almost out of reach of the residents of Fiore. It made it seem like they were important.

They were but they didn't have to show off about it.

The headquarters for the Magic Council was made from pure white stone, with areas of light blue bricks in places. It was very elegant in its design, resembling a church in some ways because of its central tower and its arched covers.

There were some more towers at the sides of the building, rectangular in shape. They connected to the main building and balconies could be seen above the entrance to the building itself. Just outside were lush gardens, casting shadows from the few hedges around the area.

A guard opened the door for him as he approached, allowing him entrance to the establishment. The Council must have realised that he was coming and had alerted the guards to prepare for his arrival. Smart. It meant he wouldn't have to wait long if they were in a meeting or something. They were showing him a lot of courtesy here. They must have really wanted him to take the request and had made a show of how important they saw him being.

The inside was just as majestic as the outside, though there were a lot of corridors in his opinion. It took a good five minutes of searching, and the occasional guard's help, to find where he was aimed for.

The entrance to the Magic Council's meeting room was gigantic. In the centre of the door was the ankh symbol the Council used to identify themselves. As if on command, the door slowly swung open, a loud creak filling the air.

Ichigo slowly entered the room, keeping his eye out for any danger. You could never be too careful

It was just paranoia talking as no danger presented itself. Instead, he found himself in a massive room, ten seats present behind a talk barrier where the Council was present. It seemed to also double as desks for them.

Just in front of them was a smaller table that contained another ten seats. Ichigo quickly grabbed one, ignoring the gasps from some of the Council. It was just a chair and they didn't expect him to stand while they sat did they?

One of the Council members was examining him closely. The man was definitely very old, but unlike Makarov, he hadn't shrunk. He had a long gray beard and moustache with his hair combed back behind his head. His ears were pointed and he only seemed to have his right eye opened. On the top of his head was a strange bat like creature.

"You are Ichigo correct?" the Council member said, confirmed his identity. "No surname known? Mage of Fairy Tail?"

"Yes." A simple replied. They already knew all this anyway and they knew his answer.

"Good. I assume you have accepted our req-"

"What's the deal with this item you want me to retrieve anyway?"

"How dare you." Ichigo looked over towards a cat like old man, surprised at his appearance. "Such blatant disrespect."

"Now now Michello." A man with a three spiked black hat stopped the Council Member's rant. "There is no need to get mad at Ichigo here. You know how youngsters are."

"Don't defend him Yajima." A dark haired man wearing shades joined the argument, the hood from his cloak over his head. With his small eyebrows and long black sideburns, it made the man look angry and serious without any effort from the man himself. It must have been infuriating outside these meetings.

"Enough." The Council member in the centre quieted the three without any argument. "Michello, Yajima, Leiji. Please settle your problems later."

Ichigo eyed the man who had spoken. He looked younger than he probably was but he still seemed very old. His long white hair stretched behind him and he could spot the hilt of a sword by his side. And even when he had spoken harshly to the other members, he still looked kind, only frowning slightly as he spoke to them.

His presence was tremendous. Even the other Council members were paying respect to him, despite his appearance. It was clear who he was from how they listened to him. He was the Chairman of the Magic Council.

"Now then." The Chairman offered a serene smile towards Ichigo. "I trust you are curious about the item that was stolen."

"Chairm-"

The Chairman silenced the Council member with one look. It was the same one who had spoken first to Ichigo when he had arrived.

"Come now Org. I don't believe our young friend here is stupid by any means. We did say that we wanted the item returned to Era. I trust that you remember that?"

The Council member, now known to be Org, grumbled quietly but didn't say anything else.

"Great then. Well now Ichigo. I can call you that can't I? I don't exactly have a surname to go by."

Ichigo could tell the man was subtly fishing for information. "Just Ichigo. And should I just call you Chairman?"

Michello looked outraged and as if he wanted to protest about his attitude again.

The Chairman laughed. "Juushirou. Juushirou Ukitake."

Ichigo gave a brief nod at the man in respect. He hadn't entirely expected the man to actually give him his name. Then again, the Chairman seemed to have this friendly aura about him. He almost seemed like he was harmless. Almost.

Juushirou reached under his desk and pulled out a slip of paper. He held out his hand and the paper was surrounded by a golden light as it was lowered slowly down to Ichigo. Before it reached him though, it stopped as Juushirou gave him a scrutinising look.

"Before you see this, we need to know for certain that you are willing to go along with this. Now will be your last chance to back else. Doing so after reading this will result in… disastrous consequences."

He didn't know how Juushirou managed to seem so kind yet could instil so much terror in his words. Ichigo didn't think for a moment that the Chairman was joking. No one joked about something like this, and he didn't want to know what would happen if he accepted and then backed out.

This didn't chance his answer though. He stared back at the man who smiled at his courage. It was as if he had been tested and had been found successful.

The paper finished its descent towards Ichigo who grabbed it before scanning the contents. It didn't explain too much but it said that it was a ring that allowed the user to drain the life from around the wielder and use it to power the ring's death attacks.

It was horrible to read about it. And Zeref had created such a tool? Why? Wasn't he meant to have a mastery over Death Magic? Was this meant to amplify them or did it serve another purpose?

"It is a horrible thing isn't it."

Ichigo looked back up to Juushirou. "Yeah. But how was something like this stolen? Shouldn't it be under maximum protection?"

"We don't know," said Yajima. "Something like this can only be accessed by at least five members of the Council together or by the Chairman himself."

"Yajima is correct." Juushirou coughed suddenly into his hand and the Council turned to him in worry.

"I'm okay," he managed to say. "As I said, Yajima is correct. And since none of us took it, it means that someone in Poison Viper stole it."

Org spoke up then, taking over for the Chairman to recover. "We believe that Poison Viper possess a Mage capable of either teleporting past the ring's defences or an ability to disguise himself as one of us and disable the security."

"Thank you Org," said Juushirou. "That brings us to the hard part of your mission. Loathed are we to condone such an action, it is not enough for us to just retrieve the ring. If the Mage who stole it managed to get the ring in the first place, they could do so again."

"The safety and security of our prisons are also at risk. We cannot know for certain if it would be enough to hold such an individual, and we cannot risk their escape. Any number of their Mages could be capable of it. One, twenty, the entire guild, there is too much risk involved."

"As much as I hate to do this, the Council cannot allow this guild to become free and we cannot allow the other Dark Guilds to get the same idea. We need to send them a message, for the sake of peace in the Magical World."

Ichigo was almost afraid to ask. "What do you want me to do?"

Juushirou gave him a sad smile. "You are a Shinigami. Normally, we do not condone killing but here, it is a necessary evil. Since long ago, people have always been lenient with Shinigami because of how useful they are. Once again, we must invoke this practice."

"You want me to kill them all."

"Yes."

"I see."

Ichigo clenched his fists in anger. Why couldn't they have told him this before hand? It wouldn't have been too much to give away if they had done so.

He couldn't back out though. Not now. Juushirou knew that and had offered him that chance but he had denied it. The advantages had outweighed any dangers.

Could he really do as they asked? Could he kill? And if he refused, what would happen? He knew though that he didn't want to find out what the consequences would be. He was trapped, and the only way to get out was to eliminate the Dark Guild, once and for all.

"Where do I go?"

Juushirou eyed him carefully before he sent down another sheet of paper.

"Here is the latest report of their hideout. We have one of our trainees watching them, a few years older than you I believe. He should be returning here in about an hour or two, maybe longer, and will be able to transport you to their current hideout. I warn you though. Once he returns, you will be leaving shortly afterwards."

"I will be ready."

"Good." Juushirou clapped his hands, a sign that the session was over. "There are rooms nearby you can wait in. It doesn't matter too much which one you pick. Your Magical Power makes it easy to work out where you are."

Ichigo scowled but got the message. He left silently, finding a room and resting down onto one of the few chairs available. He had time and what he was about to do sounded like it was going to be taking on his very soul. For now, he would rest. Maybe some sleep would do him good. Just for a little while.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

"Wake up."

That was what Ichigo found himself waking up to. He had to rub his eyes a few times before they managed to identify the man trying to wake him.

"Org?"

"Who said you could address me so casually?"

Ichigo shrugged it off. He was never good at addressing people with their titles and would most likely end up continuing to do so even in the King's presence of someone else of equal status. The only one he actually called by his title was the Master and that was more because he actually belonged to Fairy Tail. He didn't owe any other organisations the same level of respect.

"Why'd you wake me up? Am I heading off?"

"Soon," Org said as he pulled himself down onto one of the chairs nearby. "I went to wake up when we heard of our man's arrival. After he has finished reporting to the Chairman, he will meet you here to take you to Poison Viper."

"I see." Ichigo stared at the man curiously. "You could have sent anyone to wake me up. Instead they sent you, a distinguished member of the Magic Council."

"Perceptive aren't you brat." He seemed to have gained some sort of approval from the old man. "I'm still assessing you."

"Assessing?"

"Analysing your character, identifying strengths and weaknesses, and deciding whether you will be useful for future operations."

"And you think I'll be useful?"

"Of course." The man gestured towards the sword on Ichigo's back. "Look at that. It's a sign that you are a Shinigami. It's exactly why you're useful."

"I'm still not sure why that makes me useful."

Org sighed. "The Chairman didn't make it completely clear to you. It's that status of yours that is important."

The Council member pointed to himself. "I'm just a normal Mage. So are many people in the world. If someone killed another person, they get punished dependent on the situation. If we allowed someone to kill another though, why do they escape justice? Why is there one rule for the Council and another for the rest of the world?"

"These questions… They could tear the Council apart. We must set an example, and it is rare that we need to order the death of others, and even then it is debated heavily and done as a last resort."

Org turned his hand till he was pointing at Ichigo. "The Chairman said that there has been leniency for Shinigami before. That is why we wanted someone like you. You not only have the required strength for this mission but you also have the Shinigami label."

Ichigo shook his head. He still didn't get it. "Why do Shinigami get leniency though?"

"Because Shinigami got their name from their past."

"Their past…"

Org looked at the boy like he had grown a second head. "Do you not even know the past of your Magic? Wielders of it in the past were known for their brutality, taking the lives of people without remorse, just like true Shinigami. One day though, one of them decided to end it and helped create the foundations of the Magic Council."

"Do you want to know what he asked in exchange?" asked Org. "Nothing. The man said nothing, just leaving and never being found again. Both the old reputation of the Shinigami and their old services with the Council made us decide to allow leniency for those who use Shinigami Magic, as long as they do not abuse the power. One way we made sure of this was to only allow this action on missions where there was no other choice, like the one you are taking today."

"I understand." Ichigo couldn't swear that he completely did but he understood enough. The Council wanted a way to act without looking like hypocrites, and as a Shinigami, he could act for them.

"Still though," continued Org. "We didn't choose you for no reason either. We got a message from an old Rune Knight of ours. Kisuke Urahara."

Ichigo froze, looking at the man for any signs that he was lying. There was none. But what was the man talking about? Kisuke had been a Fairy Tail Mage hadn't he?

"I can see from your face that you are familiar with the man."

Ichigo could only nod.

"I see. That's good then. The Council trusts him a great deal for his past services so his recommendation carried a lot of worth for you. I saw another reason."

"And that is?"

"Fairy Tail." Org looked angry to even say the guild's name. "Currently, Fairy Tail is an upstart, causing problems as they become more and more destructive. We have no control over that strength and that worries us all a great deal. They could go to war and we would have a powerful force to deal with."

"I partially don't like them because we are tolerating something we won't get anything back on. They will cause problem after problem and we have to put up with their attitude. But I don't like shutting down guilds. The members will scatter before joining new guilds, possibly spreading the problem."

Org once again pointed to Ichigo. "You are a Fairy Tail Mage alongside being a Shinigami. With you taking missions from us, it allows us to get something back from tolerating Fairy Tail. An exchange."

"And if I said I don't want to take any more missions."

Org gave him a grim look. "Then we have no reason to tolerate Fairy Tail."

Ichigo contemplated what the man had said. It all made sense. The Council couldn't afford to be nice in the face of harsh problems and as long as he gave them a reason for them to keep Fairy Tail around, they would leave the guild alone.

First though, he had to prove himself on this one mission. And to do so required him to kill the entire Dark Guild.

Org patted him on the shoulder as he hoisted himself to his feet. "The trainee should be here soon to take you there. His name is Doranbolt."

Org walked to the door and was about to leave when he decided to give Ichigo a few last words of advice.

"Good luck. I rather hope you succeed."

Ichigo watched the man leave before the room was cast into silence. He was left with nothing but his thoughts, and they all were focused on the task ahead.

He would have to embrace the trainings Kisuke taught him more than ever. He couldn't afford to waste Magic shielding his sword's blows. He had to fight with the intent to kill his opponent, just like he had to do when he fought Kisuke. He had to treat everyone there as a threat and remove them.

He didn't have to wait long before a boy of about fifteen entered the room. The boy had short black hair, almost shaved off completely, with three scars decorating the left side of his face. On the boy's left ear was a small earring with an elongated pendant handing from it.

"Ah," said the boy slightly nervously. "Ichigo?"

"Yeah."

"Ah… Good." The boy shuffled slightly on the spot before realising he hadn't introduced himself. "I'm Doranbolt. I'll be taking you to your destination."

Ichigo tilted his head curiously at the trainee. "How are we getting to Poison Viper? A Magical Vehicle of some kind?"

Doranbolt shook his head. "Sorry. That takes a bit too long. Poison Viper was getting ready to move out soon. They could be leaving as we speak. We can't travel normally or we'll lose them."

"Then how are we getting there?"

Ichigo stared out at the hand that was suddenly extended in front of him.

"You want me to take your hand?"

"My Magic allows me to teleport to a destination of my choice. I already marked out where we need to arrive to so we should get there accurately, despite the distance."

"Instantaneously?" Doranbolt nodded. "Cool."

"Yes," said Doranbolt, happy for the praise. "My mentor said I'm extremely advanced for my age."

Ichigo stretched out his hand and grabbed hold of Doranbolt's own. "You better not miss."

Doranbolt gave him an uneasy smile before the surroundings changed. The stone and marble changed to soil and trees as the world spun and they found themselves at the edge of a forest, a small pattern of runes sketched into the ground.

Ichigo stared at them, wondering what the runes meant.

"Anchor points." Ichigo glanced over at the trainee. "I'm not skilled enough yet to use it in combat as I still need somewhere to lock on to. I'm getting better though. That pattern of runes was a lot bigger when I started."

Ichigo nodded before he let his gaze wonder around the area.

There, on the edge of his senses. What was it? It wasn't evil so much, rather it radiated Death in a way he didn't know he could recognise, and it was strong too.

He didn't bother looked at the forest. His eyes had already locked onto the ring's location. Just a bit further away in the distance, he could see the signs of an abandoned building, perhaps a research base or something similar.

Doranbolt had chosen a good point to teleport them to. While they had a decent view of the guild's current base of operations, it didn't work both ways. The Dark Guild would have only found Doranbolt when they decided to scout outwards, and it didn't look like they had done even that.

They seemed to have found a base and gotten arrogant that they were safe. Anyone would get an ego when the managed to bypass the Magic Council's security so he could understand their arrogance but they should have at least kept a lookout. From Doranbolt's position, he must have been able to keep an eye on the base to make sure they stayed there without any resistance from the Dark Guild itself.

Ichigo gave Doranbolt a half wave as he walked towards the base. The trainee didn't look like a fighter so he seemed to be staying far away. Better that way. He wouldn't let anyone else taint their hands with this job if he could help it. It made him glad he hadn't brought Laxus along, though he would have probably been sent home if he had come anyway.

Had Poison Viper become aware of him yet? He knew he gave off a powerful presence to people because of his Magical Power. Laxus said he could find him easily because of it since he was so familiar with it, but it was also because it was so large. And if a large source of Magical Energy suddenly appeared near their base, he knew the Dark Guild would be on guard.

As long as they didn't escape, it was okay. And he couldn't risk it happening.

Kisuke had taught him something in case of a situation like this long ago. Not all Bakudou Spells were just to restrain the enemy and he would use one right now to ensure they couldn't escape. He would seal them inside a barrier with him.

He held out his hand behind him and an orange light stretched outwards towards four corners. The lights then extended out into transparent orange walls. The light then kept stretching out till the entire area had been sealed within a cube.

Ichigo pressed a hand to the barrier, happy with his handiwork. The Spell worked just as intended. It wouldn't stop anything big and was rather flimsy but it served its purpose. It was to ensure no one got out and no matter what the Mage had done to bypass the Council's security, it wouldn't work here.

It wasn't arrogance speaking. The barriers of Shinigami weren't meant to be slipped past. They were strong, and the only way out was to break the barrier or wait for it to wear off. One good hit on this barrier would break it if the Mage was competent but if it broke, he would know someone was trying to escape. It would serve as a warning system too.

Now all he had to do was get them out of their little bunker. He had no doubt that the place would be littered with traps of all kinds, and it would be perfect for ambushes. He needed to bring them out.

He closed his eyes in thought, making sure to also count the number of people he could sense. Fifty. Not many of them were particularly strong except for the select few so the majority was cannon fodder material for the guild. He would need to shorten their numbers quickly.

A strong Kidou would draw them out. Blast open their hideout and charge in before they can stop him.

Shakkahou would be a good choice normally but he wanted the blast to continue much further than Shakkahou did, and Soukatsui was two levels higher than it for a reason.

"Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws."

Unlike before, this time he wouldn't fire it as a wave. That was good for crowd control but he needed to blast his way in. He would pour as much Magic as he could into the Spell and then fire it as a direct blast at the target.

He would have a few moments in the confusion to find the leader. The few time he and Laxus had faced Dark Guilds, they had noticed that their leaders were always very arrogant. It also made them overconfident sometimes and if he challenged the leader there and there, he would accept the challenge.

Plus, if he had the ring on him instead of stored away, he would want to have someone to test the ring's power on. Who better than the guy who just knocked down you hideout's wall.

"Hadou Number 33: Soukatsui."

The blast tore straight through the wall and he could hear some of the cries of pain from the ones unlucky enough to be standing in the way. He ignored them though as he charged into the guild, weaving past the Dark Mages before they even realised he was there.

He drew his sword and was already striking at the leader when the leader spun around, dark energy swirling around his right fist. He struck out straight at Ichigo, the orange haired Shinigami barely having time to dodge and get some distance between them.

The Dark Mage stared at him in shock. He must have acted on instincts that would have been developed from years of experience.

The dark energy wasn't his though. As the energy dissipated, a black ring could be seen on the leader's finger.

A sinister smile filled the man's face as he took in Ichigo. "Well well boys. Looks like someone decided to pay us a visit."

The men around him recovered from the previous distraction before breaking into laughter, all at Ichigo's expense.

They weren't making any movements to flee yet. That was good. They were instead blocking off his escape, trying to box him in.

"I sensed you earlier when you arrived but I lost track of you in that distraction. You have skills kid but it takes a lot more than that to kill a Viper."

"Is that the ring you stole?"

The man looked surprise at his question before a switch seemed to be flicked in the man's mind. "Ah. I get it now. That sword of yours isn't an ordinary one is it? You a Shinigami? The Magic Council send you?"

Ichigo nodded, answering all those questions.

"So that's it is it? The man held out his hands out wide. "So the Council seeks to subjugate us once more? And what if we refuse?"

Ichigo raised his sword, aiming it squarely at the man.

"Death? They thought a kid would be enough? You may have a lot of Magical Power but I have something to equal that power."

The leader raised his arm as the ring glowed brightly, a Magic Seal appearing over the ring. Around the man, men started falling, clutching their hearts.

Ichigo stared at the man in shock. "They were your allies."

"They were my subordinates." The man laughed at Ichigo's furious expression. "We're a Dark Guild. Few of us have any loyalty to one another in Poison Viper. This is a den of snakes, all seeking their own goals. We just happen to have the same destination in mind currently."

Ichigo charged the man, his sword swinging down at the man's head. He wasn't even thinking any more. He was angry, and he was going to make this man pay.

The man laughed at Ichigo's attempts before a wall of darkness appeared in front of the two. Ichigo paused mid charge before he jumped, Magic amplifying his legs.

He cleared the wall in one moment and stabbed downwards. The leader of the guild rolled to the side, bringing the ring back before he launched another blast of darkness straight at Ichigo.

He couldn't move in mid air and he couldn't counter with a Kidou in this short of time. Instead, he channelled as much Magic into his sword as he could and swung.

He had been attempting to blast the attack away with the force of his swing. Instead, he launched a wave of blue energy at the Mage, shaped in the form of a crescent moon.

The eyes of the Dark Guild's leader bulged as he took in the attack. It cut straight through his own attack and kept on going. He barely dodged himself before the attack sailed past his head.

Ichigo was still staring in shock. He hadn't even used an attack like that before. The closest he had ever gotten was to disperse attacks with enhanced swings of his sword, but never something like this. The attack had continued on much further than he had thought and had even managed to cut into the stone floor.

The leader stared at Ichigo in worry, his hands grasping at the ring in worry. His eyes would keep jumping between the new small gorge in the ground and at Ichigo himself.

"Say kid," he said nervously. "What says you join us? We could use someone of your talent."

Ichigo ignored him, slashing at the man with his sword.

He didn't expect the attack to simply send the man flying backwards. What happened? He didn't even inflict a wound.

A cry of laughter erupted from the leader as he pulled himself up, the ring glowing brightly on his finger.

"We'll look at that. I'm perfectly fine."

Ichigo watched the man reach into his pocket before he pulled out a knife. It glowed a bright green as the blade extended outwards till it resembled a proper sword.

The Dark Guild leader gave the sword a few test swings to make sure it was working fine before the ring activated again, stealing the life of two more of the guild. The energy then flowed down the blade till it was covered in darkness.

"Do you know what your mistake was?"

Mistake? What did he do wrong?

"You showed mercy."

The man shot forward, bringing the sword down on Ichigo's with a surprising amount of force. The darkness on the blade tried to stretch across his own blade before he managed to pull away in time.

He wasn't sure what would happen if that energy touched him but the ring was suppose to give the user the ability to use Death Magic. One hit and who knows how much damage that darkness would do to him. It could even kill him instantly.

"I wonder if you have noticed that you are still shielding your blows."

He was? A subtle glance confirmed it. He had gone to try and take the man down and because of such, he had subconsciously dulled the edge of his blade. He hadn't tried to kill the man, and his Magic had responded in kind.

"You're a naive kid. You aren't a killer. But I am."

The man charged again, swinging the blade like a madman. He wasn't acting cautiously anymore, and Ichigo knew why. He could obviously take the power of a dulled strike and knew that Ichigo wasn't trying to kill him yet. Worse, as long as the blade made connection, he would do a lot of damage instantly.

"Where did your spirit go? Come on. Give me a challenge."

If he didn't manage to kill the man soon, he would die. There was no other way out. But first, he had to break away.

The leader however had another surprised planned. As he attacked with one sword, another knife slid out of his sleeve and hit Ichigo in the side.

He almost lost focus as the knife connected, the leader's sword coming too close for comfort. His left leg spun out and kicked the man, using the temporary distraction to pull back.

He glanced at his side. The wound wasn't serious. No veins had been cut and it looked to only be a flesh wound. It still hurt though.

"Looks like the little Shinigami is losing. What should I do fellas? Maybe he's nervous. Should I let him fight someone more recognisable?" The guild broke out into cheers at his words.

"Recognisable?"

The leader held up the small knife. "See your blood here? That's how I do it. Just a little blood and I can transform into either yourself or anyone you have ever met. Anything works as long as it has your DNA. I just need to see those memories of who you cherish, and pick one to become."

That ability… It was so much like the Hollow that killed his mother. Did the Hollow have this Magic before in turned into a Hollow?

"Shall I show you?" The leader didn't wait for an answer. He lifted the knife to his mouth and licked off the blood, every feature on his body changing. When it ended, Ichigo came face to face with a familiar face. Really, who else would have a hat like that?

The leader finished his transformation into Kisuke before he looked at himself in surprise. "That's odd. Wasn't going for this guy. Doesn't matter much though. Let's see you fight your own mentor."

The fake Kisuke charged again at Ichigo, swinging his sword in a familiar Kisuke manner. He doubted he could use Kisuke's Magic but he could still fight like Kisuke. The feints were there along with the sudden counters.

The leader had improved dramatically by becoming Kisuke but he had gained his own problems it seemed. Every so often, he would prepare the motions that would fire a Kidou before he had to stop himself, solidifying his theory that Magic wasn't carried over. It wasn't working out well for the leader as it kept giving him plenty of opportunities to launch a few surprise strikes of his own.

The ring glowed brightly suddenly as darkness suddenly shot out in a massive wave.

Ichigo took his sword and raised it up high, remembering the feeling of the strike he had used before. It was almost like someone was whispering the secrets to it in his ear.

Then he swung. The energy flowed out and blasted into the opposing dark energy, the two exploding as they cancelled each other as they collided. Ichigo shot through where the two energies collided and swung his sword.

Thin air. The leader wasn't there. Where did he go?

"GOT YOU!"

Ichigo froze, his eyes sliding towards the voice. The leader had jumped and was now falling straight at him, his sword ready to slice him in half.

The leader should have never have transformed. He gained Kisuke's fighting style and he had become much stronger but if he had paid more attention, he would have noticed that the attacks he had been inflicted had left cuts. They hadn't been dulled.

So as the sword began its descent down in an arc, Ichigo acted. Familiar instincts sounded in his head and he did what he would have done if he had been fighting Kisuke.

He went to kill.

He barely recognised the sword passing straight into the leader's chest. Only when the clang of the opponent's sword hitting the ground finally brought him back to reality.

The transformation wore off and the leader returned to his original appearance, a blade pierced through his chest.

"Well look at that," he muttered quietly. "I got the one guy you could actually kill."

The reality of the situation suddenly hit Ichigo as he watched the life disappear from the man's eyes. He killed the man. He had known that was what he needed to do and had prepared to do so but actually doing so…

"He killed him."

"Don't let him get away."

"Revenge will be ours."

Ichigo wasn't listening to the voices, even as he sensed all of them getting closer to him. He was too lost in his own thoughts.

One of the Dark Mages swung a weapon at Ichigo before he felt pain erupting through his body. All he saw as he died was the lifeless eyes of Ichigo above him, still lost to his surrounds.

Ichigo didn't bother fighting his body's instincts now. He let the rest of the guild charge him, and then he let his instincts take over.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

I hope the second chapter of this Arc lived up to your expectations. That ring is a deadly weapon yet how would it help Zeref though?

I know a lot of you thought it was something to do with Hollowfication so I'm sorry to disappoint you all. Don't think this is all there is to this Arc. Things happening now impact the future in many ways, some you will see next chapter and some that will be far into the future.

The Mage's transformation abilities were by reasoning for Ichigo to kill here originally. He is a protector and we've seen how he leaves enemies alive in canon. Kisuke taught him to kill though but never exposed him to it. Against Kisuke, he reacted as if he was in a life or death situation. And the real Kisuke would have dodged that attack.

Org. He's an interesting character and while some people may be corrupt, he seems fairly reasonable. He came to like Fairy Tail as they proved themselves but at the start, they were nothing more than a headache. He wants something in exchange as we saw, and that is Ichigo's help.

I choose Doranbolt here for his Magic and I only just realised Ichigo would encounter him later in canon. I will leave you guys wondering about how that encounter will happen.

Juushirou was my best choice for Chairman here. In canon, the Chairman was sick during the Jellal Arc which fits will Juushirou and I liked the idea of having a Captain from Bleach as the first chairman that we see.

Next chapter is the end of the Arc and has a guest appearance from Gildarts. Look forward to it.

Anyway, till the next time. I've been Takei. Thanks for reading.


	7. Bloody Instincts

Already at Chapter 7? I'm doing well with chapters here. Enjoy the Arc's conclusion.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or Bleach. Shame, it would be great if I did.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

**Bloody Instincts**

Doranbolt was scared. No, more than that. He was absolutely terrified.

He had known what this mission would be like. He had to transport the Shinigami, Ichigo, to the current headquarters of Poison Viper. Then, he would be left to observe and report back to the Council on how Ichigo acted on the mission.

He was essentially Ichigo's examiner.

That was what he signed up for. He wasn't too worried about seeing some death. He was an infiltration specialist, and while he was still a trainee, he had experienced a few cases of death. It was the less glamorous aspect of the job but it had to be done sometimes.

What he had experienced had been quick and simple though. Silent killing so that he had remained undiscovered until he escaped. That meant that deaths were quick and effortless, but also as painless as possible.

This… This wasn't what he expected to see.

Ichigo was younger than him. He had expected to see some rough killing but in the end, he had still been holding onto the memories of his own kills.

This wasn't killing the Dark Guild though. This was a one sided massacre.

He had been surprised when Ichigo had put up the barrier and even more so when he learned he couldn't teleport through it easily. He got through but it explained a lot about what it was doing. He had Teleportation Magic and that should have normally allowed him entry into areas without interference.

And Ichigo had looked uneasily at the barrier. Judging by his look, it probably meant the barrier was a weak one, yet it gave him so much trouble to break through. He didn't want to know what a stronger one would be capable of.

Then he had watched the Shinigami blast through the wall, using the distraction to get to the leader. It was great thinking on the boy's part, using the distraction to take out their leader.

Then the leader had struck out. He had the ring of Zeref, and he seemed to be able to use it to some degree.

It was horrible to see it in action. Life was sucked out of the leader's own allies and used to fuel his attacks.

Ichigo still managed to hold his own quite well though. That energy attack with his sword and his skills were impressive, far beyond what he himself would be capable of.

Then things looked like they were going in the leader's favour. Enhancing his own sword with the power of the ring made him extremely deadly. He would have tried to lend a hand but his orders were simple. Observe.

He didn't like it but he had to wait, hoping that Ichigo would be able to deal with the entire guild himself.

He managed to get close enough for when the leader gave an explanation of his Magic. So that was how he stole the ring. With that kind of Magic, he just had to find someone who was familiar with the Chairman and become him. While he wouldn't have his Magical Powers, he certainly would have the DNA and that would mean that he would be able bypass many of the ring's defences without any trouble.

Then the leader turned into that copy of someone Ichigo knew. Suddenly, Ichigo seemed to fight easily. He predicted the actions the leader made and managed to react quicker than he could before.

A death blast and an energy blast connected and then he saw the leader prepare to catch Ichigo of guard. The sudden reaction from the boy though was unexpected though. He struck out and killed the man. It seemed cold hearted to him as the guy who he killed down looked exactly like his supposed mentor from what he could hear, yet he didn't hesitate for a second. It also made him wonder what kind of man his mentor was.

But that was it. The leader was dead, and the rest of the Dark Guild was angry.

Yet, Ichigo didn't move. Even as the entire guild went for him, he didn't move. He was frozen.

Doranbolt swore. The boy hadn't killed before and now he had frozen up. It was the worst time to do so.

He couldn't interfere, just like before. He was just to observe, no matter how much he wanted to get the kid out of there. And if Ichigo died, he was to retrieve the ring before they could escape. It was risky in case they tried again but at least this time they would know how they stole it previously.

But at the first Dark Mage reached Ichigo, his arm shot out and slashed his sword straight through the Mage's chest.

He couldn't hide his shock so he was glad no one was nearby to see it. Ichigo had barely even looked and he had taken down one of the attackers without even a hint of hesitation that he had before.

Things just escalated from there. No matter how many Dark Mages attacked at once, Ichigo cut them all down. Each one fell with unnatural ease. He couldn't help but feel afraid.

If the Dark Mages tried Magic, he just swiped it away with one of those energy swings or he just ran straight into it, no regard for the damage he was taking. Fire, earth, ice, wood, stone, metal. He watched as a variety of different Magic impacted against Ichigo and still he kept moving.

The scary thing was barely any of their attacks were wounding him. The odd one might graze him but the majority all were shaken off like they were nothing.

How much Magical Power did this kid even have? He was something like thirteen yet he was using his own Magical Power as a shield to soften blows and even outright stop them. That was something Mages had studies years to achieve and he was doing it so effortlessly.

Maybe it was instinct. That's what the boy seemed to be relying on now. Every attack of his had no fear in it and no sign of hesitation when he mercilessly tore apart the killed the guild. And his eyes. They had no life in them. He was merely fulfilling the request, letting those instincts deal with the enemy while he dealt with the pain and the guilt.

Still, the boy was terrifying. Dark Mages were running for it yet he reached them before they could escape and sliced them apart. Blood was spilled by the gallon and Ichigo was almost covered in it.

The Shinigami's Shihakushou had been torn to shreds. It seemed while Ichigo himself was perfectly fine, the Shihakushou had taken the brunt of the attacks. Pieces had been burnt off and it was almost hanging by a thread.

It wasn't much of a surprise when it finally broke apart, scattering onto the ground. Even so, it was scary to look at. Anyone who saw this place would see the Shihakushou and know that this was done by a Shinigami. It would be just the message the Council would want to send.

The fight finally ended just as he was tired of watching the carnage. An entire guild of Dark Mages completely wiped out by one kid.

The boy was covered in blood, the sword by his side coloured red from it. The white shirt the boy had on was in similar state. It would look like his chest had been injured and that was his blood if you didn't know what happened.

The bright orange haired was dulled too by the blood, and his hands were covered in it as much as his sword was. It truly made the kid look like a proper Shinigami with that much blood on his hands.

He could see that Ichigo was standing still. With everyone eliminated, there was no one left to fight. Yet he didn't dare approach. It was irrational he knew, yet he was scared. How much control did Ichigo have currently? Would he see him as an ally or just another enemy to eliminate? He wasn't sure what the answer would be.

Their eyes locked are he could see the gears turning in Ichigo's mind, even as he began taking steps towards him. His body was trying to act as if he was an enemy but the mind was restraining it, listening to that little bit of reason still at the surface.

"Ichigo." He couldn't believe the fear in his voice. He was sure he could escape if Ichigo attacked and then he would only need to wait for him to snap out of it.

His voice was enough luckily. Ichigo made to grab him when he froze, his eyes gaining more life in them as he recognised who was in front of him. "Doranbolt."

"Congratulations." He couldn't believe he was saying something like that in this situation. His mind was just drawing blanks of what to say. "The mission is a success."

Ichigo turned back to the Dark Guild and he could swear that he saw shock appear in the kid's eyes for a moment. He didn't understand why though. He was surely aware of everything around him wasn't he?

He watched as Ichigo marched over to the bodies and shut the eyes of each one of them. He didn't need to but it showed something of the kid's character. Even if he killed them, he still believed they desired to rest peacefully, their eyes shut as if they were sleeping.

Ichigo left the leader for last and bent down for the ring. He took it off the man's finger before heading back to Doranbolt, the ring tucked away safely.

Doranbolt held out his hand, Ichigo taking it with his free hand. It was only then that he realised that Ichigo had yet to sheath his blade, the blood dripping from it.

The world spun as Doranbolt's Magic activated and they reappeared in Era. Mission successful.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

Juushirou left the Council chambers both happy and sad.

The trainee, Doranbolt he believed he was called, had brought Ichigo back with a successful mission.

Thanks to the young Shinigami's actions, the ring was now safe once more. They had increased security and added more enchantments to block the path. He had put up a few unique Spells himself to ensure complete protection.

Ichigo didn't speak much during the meeting unlike last time and left the talking to Doranbolt mostly. He passed on how the Dark Guild had stolen the ring last time and recommended linking the barriers to the Magic of the Council alongside their own DNA. As seen before, DNA alone wasn't strong enough as it was still managed to be bypassed.

After Ichigo had left, to head home maybe, Doranbolt had given them his assessment of Ichigo. He had to say that the mission went better than he had thought.

He had fears of leaving such matters to such a young Mage but he was also a Shinigami. There had been no other option.

Well that wasn't exactly true. They had other Shinigami available but it was far better to give use him so they actually got something out of ignoring Fairy Tail's actions. It was the first time he had ever been glad that they caused so many problems.

But it was quite a surprise when Doranbolt reported that Ichigo seemed to lose focus and instead killed the rest of the Dark Guild on instinct alone. Some would say that would be impossible.

It was. That kind of thing didn't help when you were outnumbered so much and didn't have a high enough power difference. There were some things that acted on instinct though. For them, it was always possible.

Kisuke Urahara. When he got that letter from Kisuke, he knew the man had an agenda. He wouldn't have been after the ring but he never did anything without considering all the consequences and results.

If he had wanted Ichigo to do the mission, then it meant he wanted something to happen. Perhaps he wanted to accelerate the boy's growth using danger or maybe he wanted to get him familiar with the concept of killing.

Kisuke would have also known that they would have gotten something out of the arrangement as well. It meant that he didn't care what they found out about the boy because anything they learned wasn't important to lose.

And learn something they had.

Kisuke in his many years of service had been a scientist at heart. He was their top researcher and found out things that no one had ever thought to look for. Some of his technologies were still superior to anything the new head could create. The man was an undeniable genius.

So when he suddenly disappeared, just a few years after Isshin himself vanished, it had been a shock. What had been so important that he left altogether?

Then the letter appeared saying about his apprentice. Apprentice? Kisuke had never trained anyone, no matter how much he was begged. He never found them good enough and abandoned any he did test.

Ichigo. What did the boy have that made him worthy of Kisuke's attention? He was certainly powerful for his age, and must have been closed to calling forth his Zanpaktou. But he there had been a nagging doubt in his mind. Was there another reason for training the boy?

And now he had the answer. He understood why Kisuke left. The man had an experiment to conduct and wanted to see it through to the end.

The results were just astounding. If Kisuke had down what he believed he had, then it meant the project had great potential.

For years now, the army they had at their disposal could only do so much. Numbers was their greatest weapon yet numbers didn't mean much a lot of the time. Mages were simply too powerful.

The generals were their best troops but while they were far stronger than most Mages, they were still too few. Together, the Mages had more collective power than they did.

Hence, they needed more powerful troops. They needed a force capable of dealing with Dark Guilds and stopping Legal Guilds when they went too far.

The time it took sometimes though was too long. Training could be short and it could be long. It all depended on the Mage in question.

But Ichigo just proved the results the project could do. He had a man to see.

He opened the door to the Research and Development Institute and walked in. It hadn't been much until Kisuke remodelled the place. Now it was one of the crown jewels of the Magic Council. New weapons were created, old Magic was rediscovered, new advances were made, it all happened here.

Now though, it was under the management of Mayuri Kurotsuchi, Kisuke's old second in command.

The man wasn't as smart as Kisuke was but he had fewer morals when it came to advancements. It was both good and bad as it took a lot to control the man but it was worth it to have the man on their side. Such a mind was wasted in prison or in a Dark Guild.

He spotted the man quite easily. Mayuri had a habit of painting his face black with white stripes running down it. The man had turned his teeth golden since he last checked up on him and he had gained a golden headdress which curved back down to the man's back.

Mayuri spotted him almost immediately and quickly pushed the other scientists away. "Chairman."

"Mayuri."

The man nodded at him before looking back to some of his work. "Will this take long? I'm in the middle of a very important experiment."

"I believe you will enjoy the news I have to give you."

"Hurry up and tell me," Mayuri said, most of his focus on the work in front of him

"Do you remember an old research project of Kisuke's?"

Mayuri's entire body froze. "I am not familiar with his projects."

Juushirou smiled at the man. "Don't lie to me Mayuri. I especially know you would have looked at certain ones. Ones that were kept private."

Mayuri turned to face him. "You are referring to his theories on Hollowfication aren't you?"

"We both know they weren't just theories."

"That's what they were classified as."

The man was smart Juushirou admitted. He knew more than he was saying, either because of some lingering respect for Kisuke, or because he simply didn't want to give anything away.

"I need you to take control of a little project for the Council. Since you have the old 'theories', then it means you should be able to do it in practice."

Juushirou pulled a letter out from his coat and handed it to Mayuri. "You will find the coordinates of your new base. Instructions are within and you will be operating with a very small crew. Discreteness is required. Not even the rest of the Council is to be informed of this task of yours."

He could tell Mayuri knew what he meant. If the scientist was caught, he wouldn't have much help getting out of trouble. He had to act in secret and the project details had to never reach the rest of the Council, even when it gets revealed.

It was why he chose him for the job. Sometimes, morals had to be sacrificed.

Mayuri opened the letter and gave it a quick glance. "The Visored Project. I assume you want to combine those two Magic."

Mayuri took another look at the letter before sighed, the letter falling onto the table. "It's impossible."

Juushirou shook his head. "No. Kisuke did it, and now I want you to do it too."

That was the key. Play on Mayuri's pride. He never liked being second best to Kisuke and would work that much harder to create the Visored. If Kisuke had done it, Mayuri would never allow himself to fail.

"I'll do it."

"Great." Juushirou gave the man another smile before he left. Mayuri knew the limits he could push with the project but it would also give him enough freedom to stay under their control. The Visored Project had originally been thought up by Kisuke years ago but was scrapped.

Now though, it would be recreated. They didn't have all the notes the man had and most of his theories were in his mind but they had enough for Mayuri to work with.

He dreaded to think of the lives that would be lost in the attempt to create these soldiers but it would be worth it in the end. For the sake of the Magical World.

Everything he was doing was for peace. To keep it and to make sure nothing threatened it.

As long as the world was kept safe, he could rot in hell happily.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

Makarov watched his children run around the guild, fighting and drinking far into the night.

None of them were really his children but then what linked a child to their parent? To him, they were all people he was desperate to protect, and he viewed each one as his own child.

Laxus was sitting in the corner today. His grandson had been anxious for a few days now, waiting for Ichigo to get back.

What mission had the boy taken? He didn't have much of a record of it and he had checked all the requests that were taken. Ichigo hadn't gone on any of them.

Stranger though was that he didn't go with Laxus. It was the first time he had ever seen that happen before. They always teamed up on missions together.

And why was Laxus so worried as well? He had tried to talk to his grandson but the boy refused to tell him what Ichigo was doing. It was great to see such loyalty between the two but it made him even more worried. What was Ichigo doing that Laxus couldn't help him with?

The boy had been enigma ever since he had first appeared. He had been young yet was so strong. He had managed to get Laxus to team up with him, the same boy who had never been part of a team before and refused any attempts to get him to join one.

Add onto the fact that he had finally learned the boy's Magic and he was truly an unusual Mage. He had meet one or two Shinigami himself but they had always been much older. From what he had seen, a Shinigami isolated themselves for years, dedicating their heart and soul to understanding their own powers.

Yet Ichigo had not done that and had instead chosen to join a guild. That hadn't even seemed to slow down his development as he was growing rapidly in strength too. It made him wonder who had taught the boy to make him such a prodigy.

But part of him was always suspicious of the boy. That power just didn't seem natural. The boy didn't seem natural. For every part of him that trusted the boy, another part said to fear him.

Makarov shook his head. What was he doing? He had seen the boy around the guild. He wasn't evil. He wasn't someone to fear, even if he was unusual.

Every since he had joined, Laxus had been participating in the guild more, even being a bit more cordial with the other members. It was like he was returning to his old self.

And he had seen how Erza had acted around him. Despite being just a year younger, she looked up to the orange haired boy. It had probably started when she had seen that he had a sword and hadn't known how to ask for pointers.

She didn't even need to ask in the end. Ichigo had taken mercy on her and shown her how to use her sword. It had only happened a few days earlier but Erza had already been seen continuously practicing either her swordsmanship skills or attempting to learn Requip Magic. He hadn't expected her to take Ichigo's suggestion so seriously but she had. And she was picking up the Magic at an incredible rate.

Natsu had even taken a liking to Ichigo. He never told Natsu to stop attacking, no matter how much it annoyed him, and somehow Natsu had worked that out. The boy who challenged everyone all the time actually was respecting Ichigo's wishes and only attempting a fight once per day.

He wondered what Gildarts would think of the boy? Speaking of that man, it sounded like he was almost home. The familiar rumbling sounds of the city moving filled his ears and he could imagine the city rearranging itself to allow the man a straight path to the guild.

Had Gildarts gotten stronger? His Magical Power seemed higher but it was too high to have improved that much.

Ah. Ichigo was with him it seemed. Gildarts must have found the boy on his way back and escorted him the remained of the way.

It was strange comparing the two's Magical Power. While Gildarts had the most so far, Ichigo was a close second and that would likely change in the coming years going by Ichigo's previous progress. The two Mages approaching the guild though were practically monsters in terms of Magical Power. He hoped the rest of the guild wouldn't turn out like them. They were powerful yes, but it was kind of frightening that someone had that much power, let alone two.

He heard the door of the guild hall open and looked up towards the sound. "Gildarts. So you're ba…"

His voice cut off as he saw the people in front of him. Gildarts was just like his normal self, but Ichigo…

What had happened to the poor boy?

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

Gildarts strode along through the forest, running a hand through his orange hair as he slicked it back. He had been walking for an hour now and he couldn't work out how far he was from the guild.

He let out a sigh over relief as he finally spotted the town in the distance and pulled his tattered cape further around him. It was getting late and that meant it was getting colder. He didn't want to be out for much longer.

Someone must have spotted him because he heard the sounds of a bell from the town. The town then went and completely shifted, leaving a straight road over to the guild from the town's entrance.

He remembered the first time he had noticed. He had just arrived at the guild and then someone suddenly pointed out that he had walked down a straight long path through the city.

It showed how absent minded he was, that was for sure. He didn't know how much it cost the city to rebuilt the town in such a way but it had to be easier than trying to repair all the damage he caused by accident. It wasn't his fault that they put houses in his path.

He felt sorry for the kid he could see approaching the town. Unless he was a Fairy Tail Mage, he would have a long trip ahead of him to get to the other parts of the town.

What was the boy covered in though? Wait… Was that blood?

And that presence too. The boy was a Mage, that was definite. With that much Magic, it would have been waste to not become one.

But why was he covered in blood. A sword was held in the boy's hand, completely ignoring the sheath on his back. Like the boy, the blade was covered in blood. If anything, there was more blood.

Was the boy a murder? No. Just watching the boy walk showed how lifeless he was. He was lost and didn't know how to find his way again.

He remembered that look from long ago. It was once staring at him from a mirror.

Leaving the boy on his own didn't sit well with him. No one should be left alone while looking like that.

The orange haired kid, whose hair was even brighter than his own, barely spared him a glance as he matched his strides with the boy's. Neither said anything but he could tell that the boy was appreciating not being alone right now.

They kept walking straight down the path till they reached the guild where Ichigo stopped at the gates.

"You want to come in?"

Ichigo didn't move much, his left hand slowly raising to stare at the palm.

Gildarts peered over the boy's shoulder to see what the fuss was about. He saw the guild mark quite quickly. Even with some of the blood covering it, he had imprinted that image into his brain. He was a Fairy Tail Mage, and it made sense that he always needed to recognise the guild's emblem.

That made him even more worried about the boy now. He wasn't just an ordinary stranger. When you joined Fairy Tail, you didn't join a guild. A guild was just a group of Mages, working together and attracting business.

Fairy Tail was a family. Your pain was the guild's pain. Your fears were the guild's fear. Your hopes, your dreams, your happiness, everything was shared and there wasn't a single person in the guild who wouldn't put everything on the line for their friends and family.

It was why he loved being the Ace of Fairy Tail. He prided himself in being the man who they could turn to when they needed help, even if he was far away. Just a single word from the Master and he would be on his way back, the job forgotten in his haste.

As such, he felt more determined than now to help the boy. He could see himself in the kid and wouldn't be able to call himself the Ace if he didn't at least try.

He reached up and unfastened his cloak before he dropped it over the boy's shoulders. It wrapped around the kid and hid most of the blood from sight. You could still see a lot of it and the look in the boy's eyes showed something was wrong but it would at least lessen the image. There could be kids in the guild since he last joined and he didn't want them to see the kid looking like that.

He would have asked the boy to sheathe the sword but he doubted the boy would listen. The grip on his sword looked like a lifeline to the boy. Holding onto the blade must have been the only thing keeping the boy calm.

Enough delays. He reached out a hand for the door and pushed it open lightly, being careful not to obliterate the door by accident. He was welcomed to the normal sight of the guild, exactly as he remembered it.

He could see the older members drinking and fighting amongst themselves while some kids hung out away from them. Cana, that sweet little girl who always greeted him, was chatting excitedly with a red haired girl in armour. A pink haired boy was fighting with a dark haired one, the occasional fearful glance locked on the same red haired girl as if she would go crazy on them at any moment.

So the guild did get some more members. Kids too. Cana must have been happy to finally have people near her own age. He had felt sorry for her having to be lonely in the guild on her own.

Laxus seemed different. More relaxed than before, something he hadn't expected. He had heard the rumours about the boy's father so he had expected someone more angry and arrogant. This Laxus looked worried and was already looking towards him expectancy. What was he looking for?

"Gildarts. So you're ba…"

The Master's voice cut off suddenly and he knew why. He could see the blood on the kid.

"ICHIGO!"

So that was the kid's name. Helped having a name to put to a face. But this was a strange reaction from Laxus. It seemed he had found a friend since he had last stopped by the guild.

Ichigo didn't move from his position which forced Laxus to move to him, crossing the distance in an instant. No sooner had he done that had he began looking the boy over, worry all over the boy's face.

"This blood… What happened? Are you hurt?"

"It's not mine."

That was the first he had heard the boy speak. The voice sounded weak but then he didn't even have that much life in him currently anyway. No one could when they were looking like that.

Laxus swore as he grabbed the boy's hand, leading him out of the guild.

"Laxus," said Makarov. "Wait one-"

Laxus spun round, pure fury on his face and all directed at Makarov. Gildarts could swear that he had never seen that expression on the boy's face before. It looked like he was blaming whatever had caused Ichigo to look like that on the Master. What had the Master done to warrant such a reaction?

Makarov let out a sigh as Laxus and Ichigo left the guild before he turned towards the rest of the guild. Silence had fallen ever since they spotted Ichigo's condition and all of them were looking at him expectantly. They wanted to know what was going on and who they needed to make pay.

None of them would do anything if he didn't allow them and the best way to do that was to not let them know what was going on. A few of their members were a bit impulsive at times and he didn't want anything to happen to his children.

He also had no idea what was wrong so he couldn't even answer them if he asked. He gave a swift gaze towards Gildarts who picked it up without any hesitation. Together, the two retreated away from the main guild hall and his office. They could talk freely there.

Neither said a word at first. What could you say at a sight like that?

Makarov himself had a big dilemma in his head. While he was worried about Ichigo, there were rules in the guild. One of these was to do with killing. It was forbidden.

But when someone looked like that, he couldn't in good conscience abandon them. For all he knew, it could have been nothing more than an accident and that could have left Ichigo being unable to cope with the situation.

From Laxus's reaction, he wasn't sure if it had been part of the mission or not. He certainly hadn't expected Ichigo to look like that.

Gildarts was the one to break that silence. "So he's Ichigo am I right?"

Makarov nodded. "Joined about two years back. Became friends with Laxus straight after their first mission and have been together ever since. First time Ichigo ever did a mission without him was this one."

"What kind of guy is he? I couldn't get much of a read on him being so quiet and all."

That there was an obvious sign that Gildarts trying to lighten the mood. He couldn't blame him. He wanted happier thoughts too.

"He's a Shinigami," Makarov commented. Talking about small details like that helped take his mind off the blood. "Don't know if he has any family or not. He never told anyone his surname from what I've seen. And he naturally draws people towards him."

"So he's a charismatic kid?"

"In a strange way." Makarov took a seat on his office's chair, relaxing as he talked more. "He's still just a kid but he seems to have gained the respect of quite a few of the Mages in the guild, including all the younger ones. They see something in him perhaps that I haven't seen yet. It may be real or it may be all an act. I don't know enough about the boy yet."

"You mean you don't know the kid's past, even to a small extent, or even part of his character."

The Master ignored the shocked look on Gildarts's face. "I normally do with anyone who joins the guild. Ichigo though… He's stubborn. He holds his past close to his chest and the most I know about him is from watching him interacting with the others."

"And?"

"He's kind." Makarov nodded at his own comment. He knew that part was certain. "He won't pick up something you dropped if you can get it easily yourself for instance but if people need help, he is there. He's protective even. I think that's where everything stems from."

"He doesn't smile that much." The smile Gildarts had begun to gain disappeared once more. "He smiles much more than he did when he arrived but he won't show it much with everyone else. He guards himself in a way similar to Erza does."

"Erza?"

"Ah. I forgot you were gone for three years. Erza is the red haired girl wearing armour."

Gildarts nodded in understanding, Makarov taking that as a sign to continue.

"She hides her heart behind that armour of hers. Ichigo lets his emotions out more around those he cares about but he keeps it locked away normally, a scowl disguising it."

Makarov looked at Gildarts sadly. "Do you know that this was the first time anyone in the guild ever saw him look weak? He always made sure he looked strong around the guild, even on the days where I could see sadness in his eyes. Those were the days normal people would avoid people to deal with the pain yet he just buried it so no one would worry about him being missing."

"So he's the kind of guy who values everyone else before himself." Gildarts gave a short nod of approval. "I can respect that, even if he forces himself to take on his pain alone. People with that kind of resolve are few and rare. He reminds me of-"

"You."

Gildarts looked at the Master in surprise. "Me?"

Makarov smacked the man on his head. "Of course. I don't make just anyone our Ace after all. Power and heart are some of your greatest qualities."

Gildarts couldn't help but blush from the praise. "I am pretty awesome aren't I?"

"And you ruined it."

Gildarts couldn't help but laugh at the Master. The tension was gone for now and they weren't worried as much about Ichigo thanks to the distraction. From the sound of it, Laxus was a good choice to help the kid, but he would drop by later. He had expected the sensation of killing before and he was one of the few in the guild to have done so. No one would be better at relating to the kid than he would, especially with the nature of his Magic.

He nodded. Now all he had to do was find out where the boy lived. It shouldn't be too hard. All he had to do was search for that Magical Signature. With one that big, it wouldn't be that hard to do so.

The sound of knocking interrupted them. Makarov looked at the door strangely before letting the person in.

Gildarts recognised the man instantly. Yajima. A former Mage of Fairy Tail and now a member of the Magic Council.

He watched Makarov greet his old friend happily while he tried to work out while Yajima was here now. The two normally met up every so often from what he remembered and he doubted that had changed much over the years. So why was Yajima here now? It could be nothing more than a coincidence but over the years of dangerous S Class Quests, you began to believe events were always related.

And Yajima appearing suddenly the day Ichigo returned covered in blood. It left only one question.

"What job did Ichigo do for you?"

Makarov looked at him in confusion before he quickly reached the same conclusion and turned to Yajima in betrayal.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing." The answer was hurried, hoping to calm down Makarov enough to listen.

"Then explain why you are here?"

"Did Ichigo get back safely then?" Yajima felt their glares intensify. "Okay then. I'm sorry about this but I thought it was only right that I tell you the details in person."

"What happened?"

Yajima shook his head in disgust. "Politics."

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

Gildarts stepped past the trees as he tried to navigate through the forest safely. His Magic had a habit of blowing up things in his way and he really didn't want to have to pay for the forest to be replanted. They already seemed to have enough damage problems without him.

He couldn't believe what Yajima had told him and Makarov. Ichigo had gone on a mission where he had to slaughter an entire guild, all to recover a single artefact.

It wasn't much to go on about what happened but it was the most Yajima could tell them without repercussions. Apparently, the mission had been news for him too. He knew the artefact was stolen but not what they were doing about it. He said he had protested the killing when he heard of the request from the Chairman and even more so with a kid doing the request.

The Chairman hadn't budged though and had sent Ichigo a request for a job. He said it was for a variety of reasons including showing their power in the world and to warn other Dark Guilds. Using a Shinigami was to avoid being fully linked to killing themselves.

When he retired eventually, there was no way he would ever get involved with the Council. They were trying to be fair and they were for most but they had a hard job. They made hard decisions.

It wasn't right to send a kid though. They must have had Shinigami in their army so why not use one of them? They must have had another interest that the Chairman kept secret. And people wondered why Fairy Tail disagreed with a lot of the Council's decisions.

The sound of a blast flew through the forest. What caused that? It sounded like it was near Ichigo judging by how far Ichigo appeared to be and how close that sound had been.

Abandoning his leisurely stroll, he broke out into a run. He reached the sound in no time at all and reached what looked like a newly made clearing.

From the look of the stumps, it must have been new. The trees were lying on the ground, a long cut in each one straight through the trunk.

Sword slash? It looked right but he decided against it when he noticed Ichigo was standing in the middle of the new clearing. You couldn't cut trees like that at that distance unless you trained for a lot longer, and no matter how much Magic Ichigo had, he didn't believe the boy could do something like that yet.

On the stumps of the trees seemed to be some lingering energy. Some was new and some was slightly older, maybe ten minutes at most. Looking at Ichigo again, he noticed that there was a faint amount of light blue energy around the blade, slowly fading off the blade like smoke.

An energy attack of some kind? It would explain the range and it seemed to match. That was impressive.

He raised a hand towards Ichigo in greeting. "Hey. Ichigo?"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow at the man's approach. "And you are?"

"You never heard any rumours about me?" Gildarts put his hand over his heart in mock pain. "I'm hurt."

Ichigo looked at him blankly still, causing Gildarts to sigh.

"I'm Gildarts. Gildarts Clive."

"Ah. You're the current Ace."

"You say that like I won't be the Ace for long."

Ichigo gave him a weak smile, obviously forced. "I'll take that spot from you soon enough."

Gildarts laughed at the challenge. "Well then, I'll look forward to it. You better be ready for the fight of your life when you eventually challenge me."

Ichigo nodded before Gildarts suddenly dropped down next to where he had been standing. Gildarts shot out a hand and forced Ichigo off his feet, causing him to land on the floor and end up in a sitting position.

"Hey-"

"Laxus helped you get rid of all the blood didn't he?"

Ichigo didn't meet Gildarts's eyes. "Yeah. It wasn't much of a big deal."

"You're not the best at lying are you?"

Gildarts picked up a rock before he obliterated it before Ichigo's eyes.

"What was that?"

"Crash. It's my main Magic and one of the most destructive Magic out there. I can't even control it perfectly so I need to be careful not to destroy anything I touch. It's hard to control."

Gildarts looked down at the crushed pieces of stone in his hand. "I can use this in many ways. Soften the ground and attacks can become weaker. If they attack you with Magic, just blast it to pieces. Simply right? What's not to understand?"

Gildarts raised his hand at one of the trees and it suddenly shattered, part of the trunk smashed into pieces. "Did you see that? There's a lot of range with it? How far can something like this go? What if you lose focus? How far would the destruction go before it hits something?"

A fist clenched. "I was young. Not much older than you, but a lot more arrogant. I was so sure of my own power and I believed I was invincible. I almost never lost and even then, I rationalised to myself that it was because I was younger than them."

Gildarts turned to look at Ichigo, sadness and shame in his eyes. "I went on a mission. It wasn't anything special. Just a few bandits. Problem was that there was more than I thought. Still, I believed I could handle it."

A fake laugh broke out of his throat. "I handled it for sure. I took down most of the group but the last caught me by surprise. Waited until I was distracted and tried to gut me with a blade."

Gildarts raised his hands to look at them. "I just reacted. I spun round and punched him straight in the chest. Problem was that I didn't have the control I have now days. My emotions were running wild. I was scared and just reacted. And so did my Magic."

"The body was ripped apart and the insides scattered everywhere. I was covered in the man's blood as it all sprayed outwards, limps flying off in any direction while the chest liquefied under the strain. I didn't remove my fist from his chest until an hour later, and not a single bandit tried to run while I was recovering. I think they were as scared of me as I was."

Gildarts suddenly brought his hands to his face and slapped himself. He seemed to return to how he had acted first after that.

"You probably know why I'm telling you this don't you?"

Ichigo nodded silently.

Gildarts raised a hand and patted the boy on the back. "My point is that if you ever need someone to talk to, then you can talk to me. I can relate to what you're going through."

Ichigo struggled with words for a moment before he finally found his voice. "Does it ever go away? Do you ever stop feeling like a monster?"

"No." There was no point lying about that. He still saw that man in his dreams after all. "It stays with you forever. What I like to remember is what I learned. I stopped being arrogant and dedicated myself to making sure I never killed anyone again. What do you want to learn from your experience?"

"You can never let it stop you moving forward. Trust me, I tried to wallow in shame but it wasn't good. It made the people around me worried and you aren't the type of person to want others to worry about yourself are you?"

Ichigo shook his head.

"Keep moving forward. If you keep looking back, you'll just keep falling down. You can't walk backwards and expect to see where you're going. Hold your head high and make sure you can learn from the experience. Don't let their blood drown you in shame."

He saw a quick smile appear on the boy's face before it vanished as quickly as it had appeared. It was better than he had hoped for though. He'd take that as a job well done.

He slowly pushed himself back up to his feet. "Remember what I told you and you'll be fine. And if you ever want anyone to talk to, ask the Master for my address. I'll be in town for a few weeks before I head out again on some more missions and then I'll be gone for a while once more."

He began leaving, a hand raised in farewell when a thought crossed his mind. He was incredible curious at the moment.

"Hey Ichigo. What were you doing here anyway?"

Ichigo raised his sword over his head, energy gathering around it before the boy swung. The energy flew off in a crescent shape before it slashed straight through the tree he had aimed at.

"Becoming stronger so I can move forward."

Gildarts smiled at the boy. "Now you're getting it."

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

So what did you think at the Arc's end? Was it as good as you expected?

I bet a lot of you realised what was happening in the first scene, and if you didn't, the second scene should have done the trick. And we learn more about Kisuke here in a way as well.

Juushirou is interesting here for me. He's a kind man in a political world where kindness isn't useful. He has to do whatever it takes to keep the peace but he is willing to sacrifice his own peace of mind as long as that peace stays.

The Master has that initial distrust of Ichigo here. But how will things go after this?

And for those who wanted to see him, Gildarts is here. With a new Arc next chapter, he won't be there again for a while so I hoped you liked him while you had the chance. I always thought that his Crash Magic would be extremely dangerous and I believed he would be able to relate to Ichigo better than anyone else since most of the Fairy Tail Mages didn't have as destructive Magic as these two.

If you guys remember the first chapter, we saw that Levy wasn't the Master's greatest fan. For that to happen, she needs to meet Ichigo. Next chapter, you will finally see how he and Laxus meet her. I've also imagined some new ways her Magic can work because even though she took part in the S Class Trials in canon, she never had the strength an S Class Candidate should have. I'm going to change that.

Anyway, till the next time. I've been Takei. Thanks for reading.


	8. Rewriting The Team

Start of a new Arc. Similar length to the others. I hope you enjoy it. Also, see what I did there with the title?

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or Bleach. Shame, it would be great if I did.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

**Rewriting the Team**

Laxus was jumping for joy. Ichigo had to do his best to ignore his actions but it was hard.

He couldn't blame the guy though. He had been nominated for the S-Class Trials after years of work and now he had the chance.

The S Class Trials Fairy Tail ran happened around once a year. No one could take S Class Quests without an S Class Mage and this was the only way to become one, no matter how strong you were. The Master had certain qualities he said he looked for in an S Class Mage which is why he only allowed one person maximum to pass per year, and there wasn't always a winner either. There had been plenty of years previously where no one had managed to pass the trials and over the years, the previous S Class Mages had stepped down, not capable of keeping up with the tough missions anymore.

Gildarts was the only S Class Mage Fairy Tail had left and Laxus seemed determined to change that.

It was almost a given that Laxus would pass to him. He was powerful and while he could act arrogant, the Master knew he was smart. He was capable of any jobs he would end up taking as an S Class Mage.

It had been a surprised when Laxus told him that the S Class Trials required pairs. One of the two was the one who took the exam and would pass while the other assisted them in their tasks. And for this task, he was helping Laxus.

There weren't many people in the running at the moment and there hadn't been for a while. Most of the applicants were people he hadn't interacted with much and were normally some of the newer Mages who wanted the thrill of the harder jobs. And compared to Laxus, they were weak. Things were looking good.

They had both grown stronger over the year. Laxus had started delving more and more into Lightning Dragon Slayer Magic, hoping to master its power and gain control over Dragon Force. Right now, it always caused him to enter a sort of berserker state. While his physical abilities increased dramatically, it wasn't what he was aiming for. One of the greatest powers of lightning was its speed and the berserker state actually slowed him down.

As for himself, he had gotten further and further into Kidou and into mastering that attack he had used during the attack of the Dark Guild.

Ever since his talk with Gildarts, he had felt something inside him. It was like a voice was calling out to him, trying to get him to hear its voice. Sometimes he thought he could hear someone screaming for him only to find no one was there. Other times he would find the voice more like a whisper, trying to tell him something.

If he wasn't a Shinigami, he would have believed he was going insane. The truth was that it was a good sign. When a Shinigami began to hear the voice of someone else inside them, it meant that their Zanpaktou was trying to contact them. He must have done something to make his Zanpaktou approve of him and because of that, it had began to reach out to him.

It seemed like only one thing was missing, and he was sure it was to do with the attack. It always felt like something was missing. Like it was the last hurdle to overcome and then he would be ready to hear his Zanpaktou's name.

As for his Kidou progress, he wanted to get to the point where he never had to kill if he didn't have to. The Council hadn't made any requests like that one since then but if they did, he would refuse them. He wasn't going to kill their enemies. Not again.

So if he couldn't kill them, capturing them was ever more essential. Bakudou Spells were essential, whether it was to restrain the enemy or to hold them back safely. But knowing them wasn't enough either. He had been stuck before when he fought the Dark Guild. He hadn't spent enough time with the Kidou he knew to get them to work without the chant and that had cost him. He could have had the situation over with much quicker if he had fired off a Spell when the leader was distracted.

That had caused him to spend weeks going over the same spell again and again, understanding ever detail he could about it till he could do it without the chant and not lose any power.

Of course, that meant now that the chant version would be dramatically more powerful. He would have to be careful when he used it as he hadn't dared try in the surrounding area. Who knows how much damage it could cause.

Kisuke's words ran in his head from his training. He had always said how Shinigami preferred certain spells over others and now he understood why no Shinigami ever mastered all the Spells available. It wasn't possible. The complexity of each spell was completely different as you got higher up and that meant it became harder and harder to understand.

Kisuke had hinted to him that it would be a bit different for him because of the nature of his power and he was probably right like always. Magical Power was crucial with the higher spells and he had noticed that as he got to higher level spells, they became easier than the ones at lower levels, or at least with control. He had a lot less backfires than before.

They still took forever to learn though, and he doubted they were done either. While Kidou spells were hard to manipulate, it could be done and could result in something completely new. And then there was the whole theory on creating your own Kidou. Kisuke had created a few of his own and he had told him many tales of the Shinigami who had done so. One man had been talented enough to ever create a Kidou that bent time to his will and another for space.

Ichigo left those thoughts for now and focused on others. Speaking of other thoughts, he had wondered quite often why the Council had accepted his refusal for assassination missions so easily. They had explained in great detail why he was crucial as he could kill without their repercussions and then suddenly, they didn't mind if he didn't take those missions.

There had been five more missions from them over the year, each appearing just after a large amount of complaints arrived at the guild. It made things easier to slip away at least as he could tell the Master didn't approve of the missions. He doubted the Master would approve of the darker sides of these missions either.

In fact, the Master had gotten colder to him over the year. Well not so much colder, rather more cautious and guarded. It was like he was trying to reassess him and try to figure out if he was a threat or not.

Each time he returned from a Council mission, he saw the look the Master shot at him when he wasn't looking. It was like he was betraying Fairy Tail by becoming a lapdog of the Council.

It was likely that the Master only acted like this because of the state he returned in after the first mission. The fact that he continued them after something that looked to be a horrific incident must have scared the Master into thinking there was something wrong with him.

If he had been the Master, he would have been interrogating him about why he continued the missions. He would question his sanity and wonder if he had perhaps enjoyed the thrill of taking someone's life.

What thrill though? He may have killed the Dark Guild but he hadn't enjoyed it. They would have done if they were in his place.

Laxus had tried to persuade him to tell the Master why he was taking these jobs and to get the Master to keep the guild under control but he stopped his friend before he could. He understood a bit more about why the Master didn't stop the guild. He didn't like it but he understood. And he was happy to defend the guild without them knowing. He was like their silent protector in a way. Their Ace in the shadows.

The Ace in the shadows. It had a nice ring to it he thought. It would have suited him more though if he still had his old Shihakushou.

He missed that old thing but he hadn't bothered to try and replace it. The thought of wearing it just made him shake in anger and fear. He had been merciless against the Dark Guild, just like a true Shinigami of the afterlife. He didn't want to be like that if he could help it.

So the Shihakushou was gone, or what was left of it was gone. It was almost in pieces anyway so it would have had to go anyway. Repairing it would have involved replacing most of the material so it would have been the same thing as buying a new one.

Ichigo gave a quick glance around the guild. Nothing had changed much, though things were noisier that was for sure. There had been a load of new members joining, some closer to his own age than others.

The Strauss Siblings were an interesting bunch. The oldest was a thirteen year old called Mirajane, and the best word to describe her would be Goth.

He doubted any other word suited her as well as that one did. She had a habit of wearing skimpy clothing, all coloured black with a mix of skulls and demonic features over the outfit. As for her personality, she suited the tomboy stereotype pretty well.

She was loud and temperamental, bad mouthing most of the people in the guild. She was already starting to get a reputation inside and outside the guild as 'The Demon of Fairy Tail'. Strangely, she was the only one who could get a rise out of Erza. Something about her set the girl off and caused the two to constantly break into fights, destroying parts of the guild in the process. And he had such high hopes for Erza too.

Elfman was the second oldest. He was extremely shy and seemed to feel inferior to his siblings despite the encouragements of the people around him. He was a kind person though despite his self esteem problems. He was normally found wearing blue suit that seemed far too smart for a place like Fairy Tail.

Finally you had the youngest of the three. A sweet girl named Lisanna. She seemed to be able to adapt to anyone and you could find it very hard to get annoyed at her.

She had taken to hanging around Natsu a lot and had even helped him raise the egg the boy had found. Apparently it had supposed to have been a Dragon egg but sometime you had to think carefully over Natsu's words. He wasn't the smartest kid after all.

A flying blue cat had hatched from the egg instead, quickly called Happy. It was a strange sight to see as he was sure he hadn't seen any cats that came from eggs after all.

Together, the three siblings formed a three man team. The Take Over Siblings.

Their white hair hadn't been their only common feature. They were all users of Take Over Magic as their team name suggested.

Lisanna used Animal Soul, allowing her to take on the power of many different animals. She could even manage a full transformation of the ones she knew so far, which her brother was really jealous of.

He could understand why Elfman was jealous. He was the only one of his siblings who couldn't do a full Take Over but he had nothing to be ashamed of in his opinion. Elfman's Beast Soul normally got its power from monsters and other beasts and hence was a lot tougher to master than Animal Soul. He would get it eventually he believed.

Mirajane though had taken on one of the toughest Take Over types around. Satan Soul. She had only one form so far but she could fully transform into it. The Demon must have been weak or had already been defeated because at her current level, she shouldn't have been able to defeat the Demon without any Magic involved. It was a strong one. Not at one of Zeref's level Demons but it was still powerful, and it was bound to get stronger as time went by.

The team of the siblings was effective though and it was rare to see a team of Mages with the same Magic. When that happened, it normally did result in a strong team.

They weren't the only new team around. Shadow Gear was created not long after consisting of the other three new members.

The first of the three was Droy who had the top of his black hair shaped into the sprouting leaves of a plant. Going by the odd hairstyle, it was safe to assume his Magic revolved around plants somehow.

The second was a hyperactive kid called Jet. The kid had orange hair that rivalled his own and was constantly moving about from one foot to another, unable to stay still. He was fast though when he used Magic, which was to be expected when from a High Speed Magic user.

The last of the new members to join was a younger blue haired girl called Levy, about three years younger than him. That made her Lisanna's age if he was correct.

Despite being invited into Shadow Gear, he could tell she didn't feel comfortable in the group. One of the boys had wanted her there simply to get a group of three that wasn't all male and the other thought she was weak.

It was easy to see why they thought so. The girl had picked an interesting type of Magic known as Solid Script. Letter Magic were some of the most complex Magic that existed. It was hard to grasp for many and it relied more on your imagination and mind than any others did, even Molding Magic.

It could take a lot of work to even master and it was hard to use in combat until you reached a decent stage, but Levy seemed to be capable of that from the look of it. She could already create a few words without any problems and if you could create one, you could create any. It all depended on how you wanted to use that word.

A simple word like fire could cause fire to be launched at the enemy but it could also be used to provide a constant light source. It was all about your mind and what the word was meaning to you at the time.

He doubted the team had been on many tough missions yet and that was why they still thought she was weak. They would change their minds soon enough but Levy seemed to be having her self esteem drop from their constant presence.

Ichigo sighed. Should he interfere? It wasn't good if she crawled too far into her shell. She had a lot of potential as a Mage after all.

"Hey Laxus. When's the exam again?"

Laxus looked towards him. "In about a week. Annoying though as we can't go on any tough missions in that time in case we get injured."

"That's good." Ichigo pushed up out of his seat and go to his feet. "I'll grab an easier one then. We're taking a third person with us today."

"Wait-" Laxus blinked before chasing after him. "What do you mean a third person?"

Ichigo glanced at his friend from the corner of his eye as he scanned the mission board. "What do you think I meant? You helped me get settled into the guild on my first job. I'm repaying that favour by helping the newer generation."

Laxus say his eyes glance towards Levy. "The blue haired girl? But she's so weak."

"For now." Ichigo grabbed a simple mission and began to walk towards Levy. "Wasn't everyone weak at one stage though?"

Laxus looked like he wanted to say more but Ichigo reached Levy before he could. The blue haired girl looked up from her book at him in confusion.

"Um…" The girl blushed from nervousness at the two towering over her. "Hello…"

"You haven't done a proper mission yet have you?"

"No," the girl squeaked out.

Ichigo dropped the request next to her to let her look at it. "We're heading out for an easy one today. You're coming alone too."

"Me?" The blue haired girl shook her head quickly. "But I'm not strong enough and I'll get you in trouble and-"

"Some battle experience will fix that right up," interrupted Ichigo. "Best way to get stronger? Fight a whole load of enemies."

Levy still seemed unsure, causing Ichigo to resort to other ideas to persuade her.

"You like books right?"

The girl nodded.

"Good then." Ichigo pointed at the reward. "Look at all this money. You could spend the entire thing on books if you wanted. All you need to do is join us."

That was all it took for the girl's willpower to disappear. The moment he finished the sentence, she was already up and waiting for them by the door.

"Let's go."

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

"How far are we?"

"How should I know?"

"You have the map."

"You gave me the wrong map."

"It was perfectly fine when we left."

"There's a freaking desert on this map. All I see is snow."

"Maybe it's a snowy desert?"

Ichigo opened his mouth to utter a retort when he realised that what the man had said could actually be possible. Magic did strange things sometimes.

This mission had taken them near the edge of Mt Hakobe so it wasn't that far from Magnolia. The problems had occurred when they tried to follow the wrong map and then try and look for the right mountain. All the request had said was to get rid of a group of Vulcans based at the edge of a mountain. Now if they had said which mountain, it may have gone smoother. How hard was it to say 'The mountain on the far left' or 'The mountain by the forest'? Anything to narrow the results down.

So now they had to spend way too much time in the snow as they checked each mountain one by one. Then they went and lost count and forgot which mountains they had checked and ended up walking around in circles.

Levy seemed to be relaxing more in the atmosphere, occasionally laughing at him and Laxus as they once again tried to blame the other for the misfortune.

In the end, they just hoped the Vulcans would appear themselves. They had made enough noise for them to hear them and now they just had to wait hopefully.

He wondered what the Vulcans had done or had planned to do but knowing their nature, it could be bad. Vulcans were pests, using Take Over Magic to steal the bodies of humans to prolong their life and to cause more havoc. The best way to get rid of them was to beat them into the ground and hope their latest host hadn't been absorbed for too long. If they were lucky, the Vulcan would disappear and the human form would reappear.

"How many are there anyway?" asked Levy, shivering from the cold. They really should have brought warmer clothing before they left.

"I think about seven," answered Laxus. "Vulcans are dangerous in a big group but this isn't enough to cause any big problems."

"Laxus is right." Ichigo shifted his sword slightly on his shoulder as he kept an eye out for Vulcans. "Me and Laxus can handle three each and we're leave one for you to fight against. Better to get a grip on fighting one first of all before you move up to a group on your own."

Levy nodded quickly. There was no way she wanted to fight more than one Vulcan at this stage. They were said to be tough creatures and were best left to groups as it reduced the danger if you were taken over.

Laxus suddenly froze, sniffing the air. "Something's nearby."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow at his statement. "How do you know?"

"That little gift of mine doesn't just alter my ability to fight."

"Ah." So that was what it was. Natsu had always seemed to have a good sense of smell and now that Laxus was practicing more with Dragon Slayer Magic, it seemed he was gaining that sense of smell too.

Ichigo slowly raised his hand to the hilt of his sword, his feet moving into a stance. Laxus did the same, sparks of lightning flickering over his body.

Then the Vulcans appeared. Two jumped out of the snow straight at Ichigo while another two intercepted Laxus from above, their physical strength allowing them to jump quite high.

A fifth one shot out from behind them, making a beeline for Levy.

Ichigo didn't have time to work out where the other two Vulcans were. "Pick your targets." They just had to fight now.

As one Vulcan went to punch him, he brought out his sword and blocked the strike, sending the Vulcan back with a powerful kick. Spinning, his sword was raised high and fired off a crescent blast of energy at the second Vulcan. It exploded against the Vulcan and brought him down to one knee.

Before he could take advantage of the Vulcan's weakness, the first Vulcan charged back at him, forcing him away from his brethren.

They were too close to each other now though.

He quickly generated yellow light into his palm and drew a large triangle in front of him, the three corners glowing brightly with large crackling spheres slowly changing to form beaks aimed at the Vulcans.

"Bakudou Number 30: Shitotsu Sansen."

The three beaks fired at the Vulcans, two of them connecting with one of them while the third connected with the other. They were both sent flying back and crashed into the rocks behind them, the Bakudou holding them in place.

Ichigo wasn't done though as he raised his sword horizontally in front of him. Another yellow orb of energy was generated in front of him before it expanded along the blade itself.

"Hadou Number 32: Oukasen."

The yellow energy blasted outwards towards the Vulcans. With the Bakudou still holding strong, they were unable to move and were subsequently taken out in the blast. As the energy from the attack cleared, you could see the human forms of the Take Over victims.

Two down and done relatively quickly. He wondered how Laxus and Levy were getting on.

Laxus swiftly dodged the two Vulcans attacking him before activating what Ichigo recognised as Laxus's Lightning Form. He shot straight past the two Vulcans and danced between their strikes, causing a few of them to hit each other.

That distraction was all Laxus needed to get bored with playing with them. From his hand fired small spheres of lightning at the Vulcans, bombarding them with the lightning strikes. While they were trying to block all the attacks, Laxus was already behind them and launched two simultaneous strikes at the Vulcans, bringing both down to the ground.

Like with Ichigo's opponents, the Vulcans slowly shifted back to reveal the humans underneath. It definitely looked like they had been recently absorbed though some may have been close to the point of no return as they looked incredibly weak.

Levy, despite her troubles, was managing to at least hold her ground. She was mixing between using the word 'Guard' to block the Vulcan's attacks and the word 'Fire' to burn the Vulcan.

The Vulcan was having a hard time it seemed but Levy looked to be running out of steam. She must have been using far too much Magic when she used the word 'Guard' because she desperately didn't want to get hurt and she obviously wasn't completely set on harming the creature so 'Fire' was less effective than it could be.

He wouldn't interfere in the girl's fight though unless she was in serious danger. She needed to do this alone or she would never progress further. Being forced to not even beat the one assigned to her would crush her self esteem no matter what they tried.

The Vulcan suddenly raised both fists and slammed them down as the newest 'Guard' appeared, finally breaking the word barrier. It shot forward in an attempt to grab the girl only to fall into the ground.

Levy smiled as she kicked a bit of the snow by her feet away. Underneath the snow, you could just about see the outline of a letter.

"Solid Script: Hole."

"Finish the Vulcan off Levy."

The girl nodded before she waved her hand out. Above the 'Hole' appeared the word 'Rock', before the word fell down straight onto the Vulcan's head, knocking the creature out.

They could see from here that there was no chance to the Vulcan though. It seemed it was too late for the poor soul that Vulcan had absorbed. There was only so long the original form of the human was retained before the Vulcan completely destroyed it, and it seems for this one that had already happened.

Still, this was only five. The request said about seeing seven so where were the other two?

"Laxus. Levy. Stay on guard. Something's still coming. I'm sure of it."

Their cautiousness was rewarded when another Vulcan appeared straight in front of them and launched an attack on him and Laxus. Still, they were still missing one more. Where was it?

Then suddenly, he felt everything freeze as he took in the silhouette of the final Vulcan above them nearer Levy. A massive boulder had already left its hands and was rolling down at them.

It was already too close. They should have noticed it but something like that wasn't a threat for him and Laxus. They either could dodge or even shatter the boulder when it reached them so that was never a danger normally.

But Levy was far too close to the line of fire and she hadn't noticed. Add on that she was low on Magic and she wouldn't be able to cast a Spell strong enough to stop the boulder. She wouldn't be fast enough to dodge either and he wouldn't be able to pull her out of the way in time.

Laxus was fast enough but he hadn't noticed it seemed, too absorbed in fighting the Vulcan. There was no time to shout out to him and to save Levy from being crushed by the rolling boulder.

Kidou still would take too long to cast, even if it would travel fast enough. Only that energy attack from his sword had a chance but it wouldn't be able to cut a boulder like that one. The attack wasn't strong enough, or at least not yet.

"Who says it can't."

That voice. He had heard it many times over the year. Could this mean…

"Did you know that an attack is far more powerful when you know its name than when you do not?"

Those words were familiar. It was like he already knew this and was remembering it for the first time in a long while.

"You know the name Ichigo. Tell me the name of this attack, and I will tell you mine."

Ichigo had already managed to pull back from the Vulcan, the others just noticed the danger Levy was in. The fear was evident on her face, yet he felt calm as he raised his sword. Almost at peace.

With one swing, he shouted just two words.

"Getsuga Tenshou!"

He hadn't completely known what to expect. The form he had been using without the technique's name had never been that big. It was just a wave of energy.

This one though was different. The energy flowing off it was massive and it cut through the boulder like it was nothing. Even the ground had been destroyed, a large crevice in a line following behind the attack. Knowing the attack's name really did change the power behind it.

Laxus took advantage of the Vulcan's surprise and took them both out as Ichigo stared at the attack. Getsuga Tenshou. Nice name for a Spell. And very destructive too. He would have to be careful not to use this too close to residential areas. The amount of damage this thing caused would really not help the guild in the future.

"Very good Ichigo. Now then, I believe I promised you my name. Listen carefully. My name is…" The voice paused, causing Ichigo to grow tense in anticipation. It seemed like his Zanpaktou wanted to be dramatic about it.

"Zangetsu."

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

"Did you see me?" asked Levy for the third time. "I can't believe I did it. I actually won. It was just…"

"Amazing," answered Ichigo for her, ruffling the girl's hair to her annoyance.

Levy pouted at his actions. "Yeah."

"It's a nice feeling isn't it?" Levy glanced up at Laxus who was looking at her with an inkling of respect. "You did good kid."

That made Levy smiled ever more. How often did he hear Laxus praise other people apart from them? Not very much. To acknowledge her potential was a surprise in itself.

Levy had done better than he had expected. To have hidden the word 'Hole' under the snow and to catch the Vulcan in it was smart. Now all she had to do was continue progressing with her Magic. Maybe she could find a focus for her Magic to amply its strength or something to apply the words to. He doubted the words had to be as big as they were most of the time so it made sense that she would be able to adjust the size with practice. 'Hole' could be far bigger to trap enemies easily while something like 'Guard' could be shrunk to a more manageable size.

If she applied the 'Guard' word to her clothes for instance, she could properly create a defensive armour for herself. Or maybe another word would be better. It would require Levy to experiment a lot with what worked best.

Still, he was kind of envious of Shadow Gear. They had a great talent on their team and yet they didn't even realise her potential.

If they didn't recognise it, he guessed that meant he was perfectly within his rights to steal her from the two boys.

"Hey Levy." The girl snapped her head round to look up at him. "How about you join our team? Become a part of Team Fairy with me and Laxus."

A subtle glance to the side showed that Laxus wasn't opposed to the idea. Levy really did a good job at impressing him.

"I…" Levy looked like she wanted to say yes but something was stopping her. He had a good idea of what.

"You don't want to abandon your old team."

"It wouldn't be right," she said sadly.

"I see." He wasn't giving up though. "Then be a part of both."

"Huh?" A pair of eyes widen at his words in confusion.

"I said you can be a part of both teams. By all means, continue doing missions with Jet and Droy. But join us for training and the tougher missions."

"But I-"

"You're stronger than you think Levy, and right now you will be stuck until the others catch up. If you went on the kind of mission you went on today with Jet and Droy, they wouldn't survive, and you might not have either without us. But with us, you can grow stronger instead of waiting for them to catch up."

Laxus nodded his agreement. "Ichigo's right. You've got talent, and I would hate to see it wasted. If you can do something, aim for the top with it, and don't stop for anything."

"So..." Ichigo looked at Levy expectantly. "Are you in?"

Levy looked at her feet for a moment so it was impossible to see what was going through her mind. Then she suddenly shot her head back up and nodded with enthusiasm.

"I'll join."

"Good news." Ichigo looked over to Laxus. "That brings our numbers up to three."

"Welcome to the group Levy. Just make sure not to annoy this idiot when he's practicing or he'll blow a hole in the wall."

"Hey. That was one time. I haven't done that since."

"Say that to the forest."

"Say that again. I dare you."

Levy laughed at the two boys arguing. She could tell she was going to enjoy being a part of Team Fairy. "I still get the reward don't I?"

"Oh yeah." Ichigo grabbed the reward they had received and chucked it at her. "Spend it wisely."

The girl nodded. He just wished he had realised the problems this would have caused in advance. It would save some headaches in the future.

For now, things were good. Laxus had his S Class Trial in a few days and he would ensure the guy passed, no matter what. He would make sure Levy realised her full potential with her Magic, and he would finally get to see his Zanpaktou's released form.

Zangetsu. He liked that name. He wondered what the spirit of his sword looked like. He would find out in time though, he was sure of that. He had finally learned the technique's name and was getting strong enough to protect the people around him.

Yes, things were good. He hoped things would stay like this forever as they approached the guild. Team Fairy without a care in the world. Of course, all good things eventually would end. If not now, then later. For now though, he would enjoy this time. He wasn't ever going to forget it.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

And that was chapter 8 done. You got to see Levy here about when she joined. I don't think Jet and Droy would have immediately known what she was capable of and checking one of the side episodes, we can see that they picked her to get three people.

You got a glimpse of Writing Magic for Levy in the future as well today. It's a bit based of Freed in how he cast 'Wings' and 'Darkness' on himself. We shouldn't see that kind of stuff from Levy though as that language seemed dedicated for battle while Solid Script is more of a support/multiuse Magic. Should be interesting to see in the future though.

Zangetsu has shown up it seems. Keep tuned for more with him. With Laxus's S Class Trials next chapter, we have some good stuff ahead of us. And as for Ichigo needing to know the attack's name first before he could learn Zangetsu's name, it was something I decided to change for this story. A trial he needed to learn as we have seen Isshin using Getsuga Tenshou while his Zanpaktou has been in its sealed form.

Has anyone ever wondered how Mira got that first Take Over? It can't just be me. Lisanna's are easier because she needs to overcome animal minds. Elfman has more resistance with beast minds. But Mirajane? She has a powerful Demon. How did she even get that or overcome that mind?

Did people like the use of Kidou here? I'm a fan of Oukasen and you'll see that popping up more in the future.

Ichigo isn't taking those kinds of missions from the Council like the first one now of his own will. The Council has allowed him this freedom and you can probably guess why. Why does Makarov still look at Ichigo suspiciously though? You will have to wait and see. Not as much dark stuff here for a few chapters though. I guess you could say this is the calm before the storm. The time of happiness which you never want to end.

Anyway, till the next time. I've been Takei. Thanks for reading.


	9. Race For S Class

Here you go. Your weekly fix. Enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or Bleach. Shame, it would be great if I did.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

**Race For S Class**

"Be back soon," called Levy as the boat pulled out of the harbour.

Ichigo waved back, glad their new teammate had turned up to wish them luck with Laxus's S Class Trial. Laxus seemed happy as well, even if he tried to hide it.

The Master waited till the boat was out at sea before he appeared, ready to announce where the S Class Trials were this year. He had decided to keep it a surprise this time since there were fewer teams.

Apart from them, there was only three other teams taking part, and most of them were all either some new older members or just old regular members giving it one last try.

The Master stared down at them all before he coughed lightly, clearing his throat.

"I'm sure many of you have been wondering about this year's destination for the S Class Trials."

Ichigo glanced at Laxus who looked just as curious as he was.

"This year, I have decided to hold the task somewhere special to us. An island fitting for the S Class Trials of Fairy Tail."

Laxus opened his mouth in shock. Did he know where they were going? Why would it be such a surprise?

"This year… the trials shall take place at our holy ground. We are going to Tenrou Island."

Ichigo leaned next closer to Laxus. "Tenrou Island?"

"It's the final resting place of Mavis Vermilion, the First Master of Fairy Tail."

The First Master? He had always thought she would have had a grave nearer the guild. So Tenrou was her final resting place was it?

"The climate will be quite warm," said the Master, catching his attention once more. "As such, you should be prepared for the intense heat."

Wasn't it winter right now? How hot could that island be?

"Be prepared, for the S Class Trials begin the moment the island comes into sight. Only one can win. I will wait for you all at the base of the tree of the island."

One of the other participants raised her hand. "How will we know which tree to search for?"

The master chuckled. "Trust me, you'll know what tree I mean."

He suddenly stopped laughing at looked around the group seriously. "You will have only one hour when the island comes into sight. That may seem like plenty but there are dangers on this island. Creatures of all types reside here and some that were brought here specifically for this trial. They won't leave their assigned areas but be cautious. These creatures aren't to be underestimated. They will push you to your limits."

The Master smiled. "Good luck."

Then he was gone, vanishing into thin air.

"Thought Projection? Was he already at the island?"

Laxus nodded. "Looks like it. Else how would we find him if we go the moment the boat docks. Gramps isn't the fastest person in the world, especially with his age."

"I see." Ichigo glanced around at the other participants. None of them were panicking at the Master's sudden disappearance. That was good. If they didn't realise what the Master had done, why would they have even been brought here in the first place.

It looked like it would be a race to the supposed tree. The first one there would be one who wins. If it came down to speed though, Laxus had it in the bag.

The problem was the dangers on the island. What kinds of creatures would exist there and what ones had been brought in?

"This looks fun," Laxus whispered. Looking up at his friend revealed a smile on the blonde teen's face. "I doubt any mission we've done before will be as tough as this one."

"You're right." Ichigo peered off the side of the board, hoping to see some sign of the island in the distance. "But we won't fail. After this, you can get us on the good missions."

"Already got one or two in mind. How does battling a Wyvern sound?"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "You aren't serious?"

"I thought it sounded too easy as well. How about a mission with five of them."

"One's fine," Ichigo quickly answered, waving his hands in front of him in an attempt to distract Laxus from his quest ideas.

"What's wrong with five Wyverns?"

"They can fly and are a pain to defeat. We only encountered one once and we had to run when it started chasing us."

"That was years ago."

"It was last month."

"Details."

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

The island finally began to come into view an hour later. Exactly as the Master had said, it had gotten hotter and hotter till the climate felt like they were in the desert or something. Most people had been forced to switch to shorts or something similar and had abandoned all excess clothing, else they would have found themselves roasting alive.

Tenrou Island. It looked slightly strange to the naked eye. There were steep areas of rocks along different areas of the island yet it was still covered in forests of vegetation. A large rock platform stretched up in the middle of the island and formed its own landmass.

It was on this landmass that housed the tree the Master was talking about. There was no other obvious one like this. The trunk seemed to be in multiple parts, all spiralling round each other to reach the top where they then spread out and became branches to hold the leaves above. And it was massive.

"Beautiful isn't it." Ichigo glanced towards Laxus who was staring at the island in awe. "This is the first time I've ever seen this place but it's just like Gramps said."

Laxus held out a hand and pointed at the grand tree. "See that? That's known as the Great Tenrou Tree. Legends say that it bestows divine protection upon the members of Fairy Tail for as long as they stay on the island."

"The final retreat and safe haven for Fairy Tail?"

"Possibly. The First Master was a genius. She could have easily found a way to protect Fairy Tail, even in death."

A flare lit up the sky by the tree. That was it. That was where the Master was waiting for them.

They didn't have time to waste. The others had similar minds, and there was only one rowing boat available. The main boat itself was moving towards the island but it was much slower than before.

The first task then. They couldn't afford to lose time waiting for the boat to get closer but the rowing boat wouldn't be necessary.

Laxus grabbed hold of Ichigo before muttering a few words. "Hold on."

Laxus's body enveloped itself in lightning before they were both send flying towards the island. They reached it a minute later and landed. A quick glance behind them revealed none of the others had made as much progress so far.

"Are you okay?"

Ichigo quickly glanced down at himself. Some slight burns from the close contact to lightning but nothing much, and nothing that hurt. Just light singes it seemed.

"I'm okay."

Laxus glanced towards the forest they had landed by. "We better get going then. There's no knowing how much trouble the creatures in here will be."

The two made their way carefully through the forest, watching out for any signs of danger. There was no way of knowing if the noise would give them away but it was better to be safe than sorry.

What kinds of creatures were here? Some of the tracks were large and he could swear he heard some roars every now and then.

A rustling sound filled his ears and he spun round, searching for the source of the noise.

"Anything?"

Ichigo looked carefully but there was nothing. "Must have been the wind."

Laxus nodded while Ichigo looked back for a moment. For a second there he could have sworn he had seen something blonde.

Laxus suddenly stopped and held out his arm. "Hold up."

"You see something?" Ichigo glanced forward towards his friend but he couldn't see anything nearby. Couldn't hear anything nearby either.

Laxus ignored his question, instead crouching down by the ground and brushing a few leaves off the ground.

"What are you looking for?"

"Give me a moment," came the reply. Laxus seemed to be completely engrossed on his task, searching for whatever he was looking for.

"Found it."

Ichigo glanced down at Laxus who was gesturing for him to come closer.

"I got the idea from what Levy did."

"From Levy?"

"Yes, now look." Laxus brushed a few leaves to the side to reveal the start of a line of runes.

"Are these…"

"Jutsu Shiki if I'm not mistaken."

"I see." Ichigo joined Laxus by the ground. "Can you read what it says?"

"Not sure," Laxus muttered, focusing closely on the runes. "This rune here means transport and this one is for barrier so it could be a trap to send us away somewhere. That or perhaps this is how Gramps brought some extra creatures for the trials."

"So the barrier could keep them in and send them home afterwards, keeping the ecosystem of the island safe from new predators. Does that mean it's safe to walk in?"

"I doubted there's a way around, or at least not one that won't cost us time. We need to go through, and take down whatever falls into our path."

Ichigo's hand moved to the hilt of his sword for a moment before he stood up. "Let's risk it."

The two took one step forward before a barrier of runes shot up behind them, denying them an exit.

"Only one way forward."

The two took each step carefully, one eye out for any creatures nearby. There was no way of knowing what kind of creature would be in this rune barrier.

The sound of snarling filled the air. Ichigo quickly drew his sword from his back while Laxus brought out lightning to surround his body, sparks flicking around his skin.

"Ready?"

"Ready."

The creatures burst out of the bushes, making a beeline for them.

They weren't anything he had seen before. They looked like they were crocodiles of some kind but they had a humanoid figure too. Standing on two feet with their hands free and their jaws snapping, they looked a lot like Lizardmen.

The scales looked weaker than the Lizardmen they had fought before though. The colour of their scales was a darker green and they weren't as bulky. They were either another species of Lizardmen or something else entirely.

There was a flash of green light before each of the Lizardmen's appearance changed. Half of their numbers gained blonde hair and a small lightning bolt scar in the same place that Laxus had his. Lightning also flickered around their bodies in a way that looked just like what Laxus was doing.

The other half gained orange hair like his own and were holding onto a sword. It looked like an ordinary sword but if the Lizardmen had done what he thought they had done, that wouldn't be a normal sword. It would be a Zanpaktou.

"Copy Magic," he heard Laxus call out. So his theory was right. That was good to know. He swiftly jumped and dodged the first swing of one of the Lizardmen before blocking a second with his own Zanpaktou.

How many were there. It looked like five were on Laxus and three were on him. Eight copies of them in total. This was going to be a pain.

His eyes widened as he saw what the third Lizardman was doing. It held out its palm and charged up a sphere of red energy before it was launched straight at him.

That was Shakkahou. The Lizardmen could use Kidou too?

He dodged the attack easily but it was still frightening to see. There wasn't even an incantation to that spell yet he had been able to sense the power behind it. It had been strong.

Going by their Magical Power, he doubted they would be able to cast anything higher than the thirty levels. But that kind of surprise attack could be deadly. He had to be careful when engaging them.

How was Laxus doing? He seemed to be coping for now, but he seemed to be having some problems. While these Lizardmen didn't have as much Magic as they did, they were definitely good at copying their Magic.

Wait a moment. Did that Lizardman just eat Laxus's lightning? That was bad. There had managed to copy the Dragon Slayer Magic Laxus had and he seemed to be forced to use it himself to counter it, devouring their lightning attacks as they devoured his own.

He was brought back to his own fight as he ducked under one of the Lizardmen's swings, striking out with his fist and knocking the Lizardman back. His hands swiftly drew a triangle in the air as he generated Shitotsu Sansen only to find one of the other Lizardmen doing the same.

"Bakudou Number 30: Shitotsu Sansen."

Like before, the Lizardman showed it didn't need to say anything to fire the spell. The two connected in mid flight and cancelled each other out.

A blue blast of lightning suddenly shot through the air, Ichigo reaching at the last moment so that the attack fly past his face instead of hitting it dead on.

So they didn't just copy the Magic the user knew. They could go further than that. He couldn't use Byakurai at all due to it being a level four Hadou but these Lizardmen had the capacity to use it from the look of it.

He didn't have any extra time to think about their Kidou usage. The other two engaged him again in close quarters, forcing him onto the defensive.

They had his sword style it seemed. Well it wasn't so much a style, rather an instinctual way he had of fighting. A type to survive and win. How were they learning all of this? Did they perhaps infiltrate their minds and work out all their abilities and how to use them?

It would explain how they knew how to use the Kidou spells and how Laxus's Spells worked. It wasn't something you could learn to such a degree but just copying.

He dodged another set of attacks and a surprise Kidou before he launched his own. Oukasen was cancelled out though by a quick use of Shakkahou and he had to dodge the orange rope of energy when it suddenly appeared and tried to grab him.

Hourin. That was a level nine Bakudou, particularly useful to bind the target and capture them so others could attack. They were getting smarter. Something like that would open him up to their attacks.

He brought his sword up as energy gathered around it. Fine then. If Kidou wouldn't work, he would use something else.

"Getsuga Tenshou."

The energy flew off the blade only to be intercepted midflight from a combined set of Soukatsui. So they had enough power together to stop his Getsuga Tenshou. This was going to get troublesome unless he did something soon. He couldn't just wait for them to get a lucky shot in and he didn't dare release his Zanpaktou. It would be bad if they did the same, especially since he hadn't released it yet since he learned his Zanpaktou's name.

An explosion of Magical Energy could be sensed suddenly from Laxus. As he looked over, he saw Laxus's shirt ripping as his muscles expanded and his canine teeth sharpened.

That was Dragon Force. Was he an idiot? If they copied Dragon Force too, then it would be too much for his friend to handle.

"Ichigo." Ichigo snapped out of his worries as Laxus called out to him. "They copy our Magic Style and learn our abilities. They can't use what they can't access."

Laxus proved his point by suddenly slamming into one of the Lizardmen, grabbing it and beating it down in one punch.

"They can't copy my Dragon Force and they can't copy something of yours."

Ichigo wishes his friend would have just said what they couldn't copy instead of giving a hint but it seemed he wanted him to come to the answer himself.

"You still haven't called me Ichigo."

That wasn't Laxus that time. Time slowed down as he focused on the voice calling out to him.

"They can imitate your Magic but they can't imitate your soul. I won't answer anyone's call but your own."

Ichigo slowly brought his arm to his side, his free hand joining his right on his sword's hilt.

"Look at them. Imposters, all of them. They don't have a scrap of the power you have. Show these fakes your power. Show them your resolve."

His power skyrocketed, the winds picking up around him.

"NOW SHOUT OUT MY NAME!"

"ZANGETSU!"

The energy he brought out exploded outwards in a pillar of light, reaching high into the sky. When it finally cleared, Ichigo could be seen in the centre, his Zanpaktou over his shoulder.

The blade had changed dramatically from the long katana it was before. In its place was an oversized trench knife with a small section of chain handing from the end of the hilt.

His appearance had altered slightly too. Around his neck was a pair of black bands of some kind, a white outline around each of them. Some X style bands were on his arms too, one of each wrist. He could see the top of a similar one, just under his shirt and crossing over the top of his chest. Four black lines went across each hand as well, each line vertical from his knuckles down to his wrist. There were similar bands to the ones around his wrist and chest on his ankles too from what he could see, and all three of them looked more like tattoos than bands unlike the ones around his neck.

He lifted the sword of his shoulder with one hand and held it up, examining the blade. He moved his left hand towards the hilt for a moment before stopping. It didn't seem to feel right. Perhaps that was why the blade was so light for him. So he could still cast Kidou without problems.

So this was his Shikai. He liked it. This was something he could work with.

He gave Zangetsu a few quick practice swings before he noticed the Lizardmen. It looked like they were trying to imitate what he had done and were failing to get a version of Zangetsu.

Zangetsu and Laxus had been right. They had copied his Shinigami Magic but they couldn't get the same result without copying his soul. They weren't able to use Zangetsu.

He didn't know how he knew what to do but he listened to that instinct. He brought the sword back and watched as energy gathered around the blade. Then he swung.

It was nothing like even the Getsuga Tenshou he used recently. The attack had been magnified dramatically, smashing through their hurried Kidou Spells that they fired to intercept the attack. It ripped through all the obstacles in its path and crashed directly into the Lizardmen. They didn't even stand a chance.

When the energy finally cleared, all three Lizardmen were lying on the floor, their bodies changed back to their original form. Ichigo looked down at Zangetsu in shock of how he had known what to do.

"Why are you surprised Ichigo? This blade is a part of you. You already had the knowledge of how to use me. You just needed to remember."

So that was what Kisuke had meant about Zanpaktou meaning some of the best teachers. They didn't have to always teach you because all they needed to do was remind you of what you needed to do. The secrets were hidden in his own soul.

Looking at the destruction though, he realised one problem. He knew how to use his Zanpaktou. He didn't know how to control the damage it did yet. And he though Getsuga Tenshou alone had been destructive. Using Zangetsu took it to another level.

"Good. I was wondering when you would be done."

Ichigo looked towards Laxus as the teen spoke, noticing how he had exited Dragon Force already. Behind him were the smoking bodies of the other Lizardmen. It looked like they didn't have very good protection against Dragon Force amplified techniques.

Laxus eyed his new appearance. "Tattoos? Didn't think they were your thing?"

Ichigo swung his sword to one side, the trench knife shape returning to the previous katana form before he sheathed it away. As the Shikai ended, the bands and tattoos disappear with it.

"Do you think there are more?"

Laxus turned to the bodies of the Lizardmen. "Doubt it. This is the number I would have chosen for a group. Anymore and it could cause problems. These Lizardmen were vicious with their attacks."

"What kind of species are they? I haven't seen any like this."

Laxus bent down by one of the bodies. "They're too thin and the shape is off. They are definitely Lizardmen but I don't remember them having this type of Magic. Seems too artificial."

Laxus sighed. "I don't want to know who created these creatures but they are dangerous. I hope we don't encounter too many of these in the future."

"Let's keeping going." Ichigo looked towards the tree. "We wasted too much time here. We've still got to get you promoted after all."

"Yea…"

Laxus quieted down suddenly as a massive shadow covered the ground of where they were. Turning around slowly, they saw a massive scaled creature standing on its back legs. It was taller by far than all the trees around them and the top of its head was rounded smoothly, a few specks of blood just about able to be seen on it.

"Is that-"

"A Doscadon?"

"Yeah."

"I don't think he brought that one."

"I'm starting to hate this island at the moment."

"Me too."

"Should we be running?"

The Doscadon let out a large roar as its eyes focused on the two of them.

"I'd say yes. RUN!"

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

Makarov found himself waiting by the base of Tenrou's massive tree with one thing on his mind. Boredom.

Why hadn't he brought something with him? It would have helped pass the time while he waited for the participants to arrive at the island.

A Thought Projection sounded like such a good idea at the time. He could get a good kick out of tricking everyone. Now, he wished he had left it there so he could have talked to someone.

When everyone finally did arrive, he thought that he had something interesting to do then. He could watch their progress and determine if they were truly S Class material.

They had only been nominated after all to have the potential. It didn't mean they had realised it yet.

He sighed. Almost everyone had lost almost by the time they reached the island. Their squabbles had destroyed the only rowing boat and instead of trying to swim, which would have been quicker, they waited for the boat to dock.

Those three groups were no good. They needed to show initiative from the start. They simply went along with the flow and didn't try to look for other methods. He wondered how far they would have gotten through the forests if they had made it though.

Laxus. He got it. He took himself and Ichigo straight to the island using his Magic instead of trying to wait. He realised it was a faster option and took it.

That was good. Understanding your power and using it in the right circumstances. All Laxus would have to do now was reach him in the one hour period.

Monitoring their progress had been interesting. Of all things they had to run into, they had run into those Lizardmen he had captured. He wasn't sure where they came from but they weren't natural. They would be a tough opponent for his grandson and Ichigo.

And they did prove to be. Laxus had to deal with five versions of himself while Ichigo had three of himself, admittedly with some Spells that the boy had looked enviously at. They must have been Spells the kid couldn't use.

Then Laxus had risen above and beyond. He had known his grandson was practicing more with his Dragon Slayer Magic but to enter Dragon Force was nothing short of incredible. The Lizardmen were completely outmatched.

And Ichigo too. That kid's strength always scared him. The damage that attack did with his new sword was too much, and judging by the kid's reaction, it hadn't been completely controlled. That kind of attack would be devastating when he mastered it.

The two should reach him soon, and as long as they made it in time, Laxus would pass.

Laxus. His grandson had grown so much. If Ichigo hadn't been there, Laxus may have hated him for kicking his father out of the guild. After all, Laxus hadn't gone on many missions before Ichigo turned up, mostly lazing around the guild and listening to music.

But as much as Ichigo had been a good influence on his grandson, he hoped that was all it was.

That boy. He didn't trust him. He and Laxus both always talked about taking Fairy Tail to the top but they stuck to their belief that power was the way forward. If you had power, you could reach your goals.

He would argue differently but he knew it wouldn't make a difference. Power was good but it could also corrupt. And Ichigo gave him doubts.

Why would that kid continue to take missions from the Magic Council? What would they have to offer him? Maybe it was money? Then again, the kid never seemed to spend much as he always picked quest requests based on content, not reward.

Maybe it was power again? That made more sense. If the Council offered him power, there was a good chance the kid might have accepted it.

There was that one doubt in his mind about the kid's mental state though. What if he went on them because he enjoyed killing? He hadn't come back covered in blood unlike the first time yet he could have easily washes before he returned. Getting all that blood on you meant he had experienced something dreadful and that could easily make him start to disregard the value of human lives.

That brought up problems about considering the child for the S Class Trials next year and afterwards. Power wasn't enough. He needed to be someone he could trust to a degree and who could represent Fairy Tail. Gildarts had hinted that the boy would be ready quickly but he was unsure. He didn't want to take that risk.

When he did test the child, he would need Gildarts there. He could see if the boy was ready and test him to his heart's content. He knew the man had taken a liking to the young Shinigami. It was different from the relationship he had with Natsu. It was more like a master and an apprentice type thing, Gildarts wanting to make sure he had found himself an eventually successor.

He hoped Levy's inclusion to Ichigo's little team would be enough to set him back on the right path. He couldn't give the boy infinite chances but he could give him some leeway for now. Levy was a smart girl, and sweet as well. She could always let him know if Ichigo started acting odd.

A rustling noise distracting him and he stood up, barely any taller from when he had been sitting down.

He glanced down at the watch on his arm before counting down in his head. Five, four, three, two-

"Here."

Laxus made it.

The two Mages crawled out of the bushes, looking like drowned cats. Did they run through a stream of something?

"Don't ask," said Laxus, just as he tried to open his mouth to say something.

The Master chose to smile at his grandson instead.

"I'll say this instead then. Congratulations S Class Mage."

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

A mad scientist crouched over his work, scratching down a few notes onto paper as he observed the tests in front of him.

"Mayuri sir."

The man in question looked up from his work to see the shaking form of one of his scientists. "What you fool? Can't you see I'm busy?"

The man bowed quickly. "I'm sorry sir. It's just that, well…"

"Well man, spit it out."

"There's someone here to see you."

Mayuri looked at the man strangely for a moment before his face tightened with anger. "What? Who's there? How did someone find us?"

"That's not a nice thing to say to a guest."

Mayuri and the scientist froze at the newcomer's voice. Instead of being annoyed at the interruption though, Mayuri looked intrigued.

"How did you get past my defences? This lab is hidden well, and the defences are on the level any secret lab needs."

"I aged them."

"Aged them?"

The man held out an arm and the desks nearby restored to their original conditions before usage had worn them out. As quickly as that happened, the desks ages till they were covered in rust and collapsed.

"Arc of Time? That's a Lost Magic."

"You would think the work you are doing would be the same."

Mayuri sniffed the air. "You're tainted by something. Death. What did you encounter? Tell me and I'll make your dissection painless."

"You won't do that. I'm too useful for you."

"Useful. I don't have a clue who you are."

The man reached up to the shirt he was wearing before pulling it open, revealing a guild mark beneath it. The mark of Poison Viper.

"So you're the Guild Master."

The man tilted his head. "What makes you assume something like that?"

Mayuri snorted. "That kind of guild was troublesome but still trash. That ring they got was the only reason they were a threat. Since you are tainted by death, you must have come into contact with the ring. The only other to do so was the supposed leader but his Magic matches the type to steal the ring."

"You though have a fair amount of power. In Dark Guilds, the strongest leads them. You don't strike me as the kind of man to be ordered around."

Mayuri suddenly gestured towards the man himself. "And look at you. You're angry. Angry that I insulted your guild and angry that I insulted your subordinates. You cared for them and now they are all dead."

"But still." Mayuri raised a hand to his head as he examined the man. "Why are you here? The Shinigami isn't anywhere nearby."

"I may have arrived late but I saw what that kid did." The man scowled just from the memory. "I want to crush him but I don't have the strength to do so. So I came to you. I got from my sources that you are trying to create something. Something powerful."

"And you want in do you? Sorry but I only need Shinigami or those who haven't learned Magic yet. You can't become a Shinigami so you aren't worth my time."

"You are trying to combine the powers of Shinigami and Hollows. Am I wrong?"

Mayuri froze for a moment before turning to the scientist. "Get out." The scientist didn't need any other incentive to escape.

"Now then. Where did you learn that?"

The man let out a booming laugh. "When you make a deal with demons, make sure they keep their mouths shut."

"I see." Mayuri frowned. If that guild had let slip his project to this man, who else could they have told.

"Well it doesn't matter. I don't need you here and you aren't useful for my experiments on Hollowfication so get lost."

"Your experiments aren't working are they? You aren't an expert at this unlike Kisuke Urahara."

"How did you hear that name? No, rather how do you know about his knowledge."

The man didn't do anything to start with. Then he reached into his pocket and brought something out and placed it on the table. Mayuri stared at it in awe before snapping out of his trance.

"How… How did you find this?"

"The same place where I got your location. Everything can be found in Hell eventually."

"Name your terms."

"So quick to change your mind?"

"I can't make you a hybrid," snapped Mayuri. "It's impossible."

The man laughed again. "Who said you have to do it one way?"

Mayuri's annoyance slowly disappeared as he took in the man's words. "You would let me run tests of course?"

"Of course."

"And you understand what you are asking me to do here?"

"Yes."

"Good." A large creepy smile appeared on the mad scientist's face. "I always wanted to experiment with a Hollow. I wonder how it will work by using the Hollow power first compared to the Shinigami power."

Mayuri strode up to the man before examining every inch of the man. The man did look old with his white hair and moustache and that scar down his right eye looked like it had taken away the man's sight in that eye but that wouldn't matter once he became a Hollow. All impurities would be removed and then he would have the perfect lab rat.

This man wouldn't become a Visored though. This was a difference procedure. Arrancar. That sounded better for this pet project. Maybe this method would be more successful than the Visored one. Who knew? The joy of being a scientist. There were always tests to run.

He left the object the man had given him on the desk for now. He would run some tests on it later but he doubted it would need any adjustments. It was a godsend for his research.

For now, he ignored the small orb, energy flowing inside the sphere. It had been Kisuke's masterpiece all those years ago.

And now it was his.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

Chapter 9 done. So Laxus had his S Class Trial. I choose Tenrou Island because I needed a reason for why he knew where it was in canon because I doubt the trials are there every year. No fear kind of trials here because there aren't enough S Class Mages. Gildarts is their only one and he is away. Instead they have to overcome dangerous creatures and try and think in a way an S Class Mage should think.

A little Mayuri for you here. Notice how I never said specifically that that guy in Poison Viper was the leader. That was every other character's conclusion, but as you see, it wasn't right. And who knows who that man was? Some of you probably already know but I won't say so some of you can guess. May not be important too much right now but I wouldn't bring him in for no reason.

And we all know what that masterpiece of Kisuke's is. If you don't, do you even watch any Bleach?

One more chapter in this Arc and we move on to the next one. Look forward to it next week.

Anyway, till the next time. I've been Takei. Thanks for reading.


	10. First Quest Of The S Class Mage

Chapter 10 for your enjoyment. Read, review, tell your friends too. I hope it lives up to your expectations.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or Bleach. Shame, it would be great if I did.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

**First Quest Of The S Class Mage**

Ichigo peered over the edge of the rocks down at the valley below. Quiet. That was the only way to describe it. Too quite though.

Team Fairy had been on this quest for almost two weeks now. For what they were hunting, it was far longer than they had expected.

Ichigo sighed as he pulled back from the cliff edge and headed back down the slope. The others would be waiting back at the camp, hoping for some good news.

Their first S Class mission was far different than they had expected. So far, it had been nothing more than a glorified tracking mission. Looking for Magic residue from their target, asking around towns for rumours of sightings, and basically hoping one of the leads would work.

Really, they should have seen it by now. A massive Demon wasn't hard to miss.

All they had to go on was that the Demon was meant to be powerful and hard to find. Not on the level of one of Zeref's but still dangerous. They had seen its work a few towns back and it looked recent. They couldn't be too far behind.

Ichigo weaved around the trees before arriving at the camp. Laxus looked up at him and looked down again in annoyance, probably noticing his mood. Levy didn't notice straight away, fiddling with her new clothes.

They had insisted she get some new stuff after a few of their experiments with her Magic. While it seemed she could enhance her clothes and herself normally with her Magic, the material wasn't a good conductor for it and it soon fizzled out far too quickly. It was okay for emergencies but in a real fight, you didn't want you Magic to fail you at the last moment. That would be suicide.

Of course while Levy wanted stylish stuff, they wanted her to have practical stuff. Laxus had been all for a suit of metal armour like Erza, something Levy had protested heavily at. Too little protection though and even the enhancements wouldn't be enough.

In the end, they had managed to get her a few pieces of leather like armour, mostly consisting of arm guards, new boots, and a short sleeved jacket. It hadn't been cheap for what they were made of but they would be much more effective than her normal clothes, and she could still wear that stuff as long as she wore the armour over it on their missions.

They had also insisted she had something to defend herself at close range. She wasn't the Close Combat type of Mage as her Magic was more suited to range currently. To overcome that, they had forced her to choose some kind of weapon that could at least give her a helping hand.

It was attached horizontally behind her back on her waist now. A small cylinder that seemed like nothing of significance. It was much more than it seemed though and was good at conducting Magic like her new clothes. At least now, they could let her fight more easily on a mission like this.

There was no way they would leave her alone right now though, despite her quick improvements. She was here to learn firsthand about strength and power in battle and the best way to become stronger was through experience. Alone, she would never beat the Demon. That was what they would be there for.

She finally noticed him, raising a hand in greeting. "Anything?"

Ichigo shook his head. "Nothing. This Demon's good at hiding. I can't see anything."

Laxus sighed. "I thought I couldn't sense anything nearby. A Demon of this size should be like you. A beacon to everyone everywhere."

"Should I hang back for a while?"

Laxus shook his head. "No. I'm not fighting this Demon alone with Levy." He turned towards the girl. "Sorry squirt but I'd rather have Ichigo by my side."

"No offense," said Levy, not letting it get to her. Laxus didn't mean anything mean by it. It was just his way of talking. He sounded insulting but he was simply being honest. She had no doubts that she wouldn't be a match for the Demon and that their best chance was with Ichigo and Laxus's teamwork.

Ichigo pulled a map out and crossed off another location. "So what is this? Site twelve? Thirteen?"

"I think we hit fifteen three days ago," muttered Laxus. "We can't have many leads left do we?"

Ichigo checked the map, counting off the remaining circles on it. "From the look of it, there must be twenty left. Too many leads, not enough time."

Levy joined them in their sighs. "Should we ignore the earliest ones?"

Laxus nodded. "She has a point. By now the Demon would have moved on from them. Unless you think it continued on in that path and the latest rumours were wrong that is."

"We saw the damage." Ichigo gestured down at the towns on the map. "Each one was taken down one by one, and the destruction pattern keeps fitting the original description. A rain of fire called down from the sky and winds strong enough to topple the walls. It has to be nearby.

Laxus looked down at the map before something seemed to click. "Pass me the pen."

Ichigo frowned but did as he was asked. Laxus slowly leaned down and crossed locations off, one by one. Each movement was slow but done as if he was confirmed details first off to be sure of what he was doing.

After a few minutes of silence, the only noise coming from the occasional scratch of paper and pen, Laxus finally finished, leaving three points left on the map.

"Are you sure about theses ones?"

Laxus looked at him with confidence. "Of course." He gestured at the earliest locations. "As Levy suggested, the earliest ones are no good. We should have heard about more destruction from that direction otherwise. It people say it went that way, perhaps it did and they doubled back. Demons can be quite tricky after all."

Laxus now showed them the points nearest the middle of the map. "Now look at these ones. Too close to each other yet nothing. We should have seen something in the distance or at the very least, we should have sensed something. Demon Magic has a certain trait to it, making it easily recognisable."

Laxus finally gestured to the three points left. "Now we have three left. The closest one is because this path could still be correct to an extent and we just aren't far enough yet. The other two are similar situations. Three choices yet only one direction."

Laxus had thought it all through well. He doubted he would have managed to do it so well.

"It's this one."

The two boys turned to Levy in shock, the girl looking extremely nervous at all the sudden attention.

"I… I mean…"

She waved her hands in embarrassment, aiming them at Ichigo. Laxus got the message.

"So this one?"

Levy nodded at the location on the map. It was the furthest from them by how were the two sure.

"Go on Levy." Levy looked up at Laxus in surprise. The Lightning Mage had an impressed look on his face. "You figured it out first."

"Um…" Levy looked up at Ichigo. "You're Magic… It's massive."

"Yeah?"

"So… Couldn't the Demon be afraid?"

"Afraid?" The word sounded foreign with Demons. Why would they be afraid of him?

"Not you personally," said Laxus when he voiced those words out loud. "Right now, the Demon would be able to sense you like a beacon, just like its Magic would be for us if we got close. Demons both respect and fear those stronger than them, and even if it is tougher, your Magical Power is enough to ward it off."

"So it's what? Running scared."

"Yes." Laxus pointed again at the location on the map. "If you sensed a massive source of Magical Energy, one possibly greater than your own, would you stay and risk fighting it?"

"Probably."

"If you weren't you?"

Ichigo tilted his head to the side. The idea of running away always sounded strange to him. If he hadn't been taught as he had been though, he may have considered it as a possibility.

"Think about it this way. Right now, it doesn't know what you are capable of. Magical Power doesn't mean squat if you can't control it but at a distance, you can't know what level of control someone has. The Demon is powerful but no Demon wants to face a fight they could lose. They enjoy being top dogs."

Ichigo looked at the map carefully. "So let's assume he is here. If he continues in that direction from the city, he will end up here."

Laxus examined the map. "Hopefully. Looks like a city is right in its path and we've seen it can't resist attacking them. It's the best time to attack. While the Demon is distracted, we can buy time for evacuations and then once everyone is clear, we can fight seriously without risk of injury from collateral damage."

Levy raised a hand. "Aren't you two always going on about avoiding damages?"

"The cost of them," muttered Ichigo. "They can't sue you for damaging the ground and in this case, they won't care if we level the town or not. It's going to be destroyed either way by the Demon and many lives would be lost so the best we can do is try and kill it before too many die."

Laxus nodded at his words. "If we are lucky, we may even get there before the attack and can lure the Demon further away, but I doubt we will make it in time. This Demon is fast for its supposed size."

Laxus stood up and grabbed his pack. "Let's head out now. Better to get as much ground covered as we can beforehand. This Demon will need to rest as well and we can hopefully use this chance to catch up a bit. You can't sense Magical Power while you're asleep after all."

The three headed out, the eyes glued to the path. They had to move fast. Lives were in the balance here, and seconds could make all the difference.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

A bald man stood at the outskirts of the town he had recently arrived at. He stood there silently and without moving, as steady as a rock. A strange staff with a crystal globe resting on the top was held strongly in his left hand.

He was waiting. He could sense it getting closer. A Demon.

When he saw the request about the Demon, he had originally planned to take it. Unfortunately though, the mission had already been accepted by another guild. Fairy Tail if he had heard correctly.

He was familiar with the name but he hadn't had the luxury to meet many Fairy Tail Mages before, especially S Class ones. He was one of Lamia Scale's few S Class Mages and like Fairy Tail, the guild had few to start with. He kind of wished to see what kind of people these Fairy Tail Mages were like.

He had no right to interfere with their mission though so he had decided he could easily visit the guild later on. He was sure his Guild Master could get permission from Master Makarov to allow him to visit. The man was known to be a kind and fair person from what he had heard.

As luck would have it though, he got his wish to meet the Mages sooner rather than later. A new S Class request appeared only a few days back that requested protection from a Demon.

His mind immediately connected the dots and had accepted the mission before he could think. It was rare that he gave into impulse and he hoped he wouldn't regret not thinking it through first.

It would be worth it. From what he had predicted, the Demon would likely pass by this town. The city had already been evacuated to an underground bunker in the centre, left over from the days of Zeref's terror. While he would try and fight the Demon away from the town, he couldn't guarantee the town would be left unharmed.

It seemed too quiet. He looked and looked but nothing. From the reports of Demon sightings, he had expected a massive beast. So where was it?

He could sense a massive source of Magical Power approaching but something unnerved him. If it belonged to the Demon, why couldn't he see it yet? It didn't make sense.

The sound of crashing filling his ears and he turned, fear on his face. The walls surrounding the city had collapsed, even when supported by his Earth Magic. But where was the attack coming from? Was the Demon invisible?

Fire rained from the sky and it was only then that he realised the Demon's trickery. That Magical Power approaching wasn't the Demon's because the Demon was already here, miles above the city itself. It could fly.

The Magical Power had to belong to whoever was tracking this Demon. Hopefully it would be the Fairy Tail Mages. He had doubts that he could pull a battle like this off alone now.

Still, the intelligence of this Demon was surprising. It used its pursuers to trick the defenders so it could launch a surprise attack on the city. It had to want to take down the city as fast as possible to keep ahead of those chasing it. This Demon wasn't a dumb brute.

Fire seemed to be its main power. The winds could have been generated from the wings. Enhanced beats of them could do such a thing in theory.

At least the warnings of Fire being rained down from the sky had a basis now. He could wait for the other Mages but he couldn't risk it. He would just have to hope they would make it in time. Until then, he would hold out. He wasn't called Iron Rock Jura for nothing.

He raised his right hand and extended his middle and index fingers towards the Demon. From around him, pillars of earth rose from the ground and extended high up to the sky.

The Demon wasn't harmed. It seemed it was too high up. The pillars of earth would only go so far. The further he sent them, the weaker they would become. No matter. He would use this to his advantage.

The Demon raised one of its clawed hands and fire appeared. It brought its arm back and threw the flame, the fire multiplying as it split of into smaller blasts.

Jura swiped his hand to the side and the tops of the pillars extended to the sides, joining together and forming a small barrier over the town. The fire connected and destroyed the quickly constructed barrier but it was enough. He only needed to block the attack.

Still, he couldn't afford to waste Magic like this. He would have to maximise what he had and hold out.

He slammed the staff into the ground and brought his hands together in prayer. Earth rose all around the town, climbing higher and higher as it sloped towards the centre. The walls of earth reinforced themselves as layer after layer appear until the rock eventually met at the top of the town.

Jura didn't once release his hands from their prayer position. This defence would last as long as he kept supplying Magic. Now the question was who's time would run out first. His or the Demon's.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

Ichigo and the others sped through the trees, getting closer and closer.

"You're sure you sensed something?" asked Ichigo.

"Yeah." Laxus pointed up ahead of the group. "We're close now and I definitely sensed a large release of Magical Power up ahead. Two of them in fact, and one wasn't demonic. Someone else is fighting."

Ichigo frowned. "Did someone else take our job?"

"Doubt it. For one, few people can take S Class Missions. For another, no one else can legally take this mission unless we give up or can't complete the mission within a suitable timeframe. For something like this, it could range from a few weeks to two months. Demons are tricky."

"I see something," shouted Levy.

The two boys joined her in glaring forward, seeing the edge of the forest in view. Beyond it was something odd, which must mean they were getting close.

One final push and they were through the forest. Dead ahead was a large dome made completely of earth and rock, holding back the wrath of the Demon above it.

"So that's why it was hard to track," muttered Ichigo. "It could fly."

"We need to get it out of the sky." Laxus looked towards Ichigo. "You said that a Shinigami gains access to a whole range of abilities once they unlock Shikai. Something that would allow you to reach targets up high. Do you think you can use it yet?"

Ichigo frowned. "I haven't tried much. I've been getting use to Zangetsu's released form and how Getsuga Tenshou works with him."

"Give it a try anyway. My Lightning Form could reach him but I don't have the raw power to knock him down. You should."

"Let's hope Kisuke's lessons about this worked then."

Ichigo kicked off the ground. Instead of coming back down, he stayed in the air, rising higher and higher each time his feet kicked off something.

Levy looked up at him, shock on her face.

"How…"

"He's not flying. I don't even completely understand how it works. What I do know is that because he used pure Magic, it has different properties to our own."

"You mean like how your Magic has traces of Lightning in it."

Laxus nodded. "Indeed. But he doesn't have that filtered Magic. It's just raw power. From what he told me, this technique he's trying is a form of manipulation of pure Magic. He forces his Magic under his feet and uses it to create a platform to stand on. Then he uses that platform to jump from."

"So it's like he's climbing?"

"Yeah, something like that. Now we should focus on getting to the dome. Have you been practicing that suggestion we gave you before we went to the S Class Trials?"

Levy nodded. "I think I can do it."

"Then let's go squirt." Laxus's body shifted before he was covered in lightning and flying forward at speeds far greater than before.

Levy watched him go before she swiped her hands to the side. "Solid Script: Jump, Speed, Weight."

The words flew towards her clothes, 'Jump' attaching to her shoes while 'Speed' and 'Weight' attached to her jacket. Immediately, she found herself weighing a lot less than before as 'Weight' began to make her lighter. It wouldn't last long but it would allow her to move more easily and survive falls that would otherwise hurt.

That was where 'Jump' came in handy. A lighter weight and greater jumping power would allow her to manoeuvre over obstacles with ease by just jumping and she wouldn't have to worry about hurting herself when she hit the ground with 'Weight' active.

Finally, 'Speed' would allow her to move much faster, especially when combined with the other two. It would only get more effective over time as she gained more Magical Power and a greater control over her Magic but for now it would suffice.

Kicking off the ground, she felt herself flying through the air. She wasn't as fast as the others by a long shot but she wouldn't be far behind. She felt herself falling and the moment she hit the ground, she kicked off again, continuing her pace.

Ichigo watched from above at the two, a smile appearing on his face at Levy's progress. Now that was how to use Solid Script creatively.

Turning back to the Demon in the sky, he needed to work out how to get it down.

A normal Getsuga Tenshou wasn't going to be enough. This Demon was massive which meant it would have some extremely high resistances to Magical attacks. If he was lucky, it would be a lesser Demon. If it wasn't then they would need a Devil Slayer here to help.

This was only an S Class Quest though, not one that was higher than that. A high ranking Demon was normally only found on those missions so they should be okay here. Still, he needed to knock this Demon down far. Not only did he have to overcome that resistance but he would also need to knock it far enough down before it could recover with its wings.

He would have to release his Shikai then. Getsuga Tenshou was strongest there. Something about Zangetsu's blade being able to magnify the destructive power of the attack and release it in one swing.

But first, he needed to get closer. He needed to get above the Demon and it didn't look like it was going to let him past easily. The Demon slowly turned to him, its eyes widening as it saw the sword in his hand.

So even Demons feared Zanpaktou. The Demon bowed its head slightly before it created large spheres of fire in its hands. So the Demon respected his power it seemed. They were know for respecting power above all else.

The Demon threw the fireballs, each of the two spheres splitting again and again and again till it was nothing more than a rain of fire falling down at him.

This wouldn't be enough to stop him. This looked like an attack designed to bombard a group of enemies or a town. He would slip right past it.

There were a lot of fireballs to dodge but he managed it, weaving his way around the ones that got to close as he kept up his approach. The Demon threw down more fire only to get the same result.

They both came to the same conclusion. The fireballs weren't going to be enough to stop him. So the Demon changed tactics. It brought back its hands as fire surrounded each of the claws. Then it flew at him.

So that was its new plan. It was moving much faster than he was now with gravity on its side and those claws looked deadly sharp. The fire would increase the range of its swipes dramatically from the looks of it and he didn't want to know what would happen if he was hit by them.

This could work in his advantage though. He needed the Demon on the ground and he needed to get past the Demon first. All he had to do was dodge somehow.

But the Demon was getting closer and there was no way to avoid it without it adjusting itself to catch him. He needed to be faster and slip through its guard.

What was that technique Kisuke talked about? Shunpo. That was it. He hadn't used it before but he didn't have time to worry about that. He would just have to make do. He only had to travel a short distance so it didn't matter how many steps it took, just as long as he got past and could attack.

He waited till the last moment. The Demon got closer and closer till it was almost on top of him. Then he moved.

It was far easier than he though. One moment he was right in front of the Demon, and the next he had slipped right past its guard. It hadn't been hard to see a momentary hole in its guard and slip through it.

The Demon strained its head round as it looked up at him in fear. Why was it so afraid of what he had done? He had only used Shunpo. It should be afraid of what was coming.

At his command, his Zanpaktou changed, his familiar oversized trench knife appearing in his hands in place of the sealed form of Zangetsu. He brought the blade up at gathered energy around the blade, preparing for one massive strike.

The Demon swallowed whatever fear it had shown and attempted to stop him. He was forced to bring his Zanpaktou down quickly to block the strike of the claws.

The energy was still wrapped around the blade. Slowly, he increased the energy he was storing in the blade till it even swallowed him up in the aura. He hadn't tried this before either but it felt right. No one ever said to him that Getsuga Tenshou had to be fired as a long range attack.

"Getsuga Tenshou."

The energy exploded down in a massive blast. It seemed that since it didn't need to form the crescent shape to maintain the energy in, it could just release it all at once from the blade's edge.

From the ground, Laxus and Levy looked up. They had gotten to the dome and were now looking up at the cloud of smoke from the attack.

The Demon fell straight through it, heading down to the ground with no attempts being made to stop its fall. It looked like it was recovering but it wouldn't make it in time.

Their prediction was wrong. The Demon fell far but, before it reached the ground, its wings shot out and caught itself just in time. It was far lower but they would find it hard to battle it in the air, especially Levy.

"Damn," Laxus said quietly. "It wasn't enough."

Levy made to say something when a large rumbling sound filled the air. Before either of them could ask each other what was happening, the dome changed, large spikes firing off it at the Demon.

After falling so far and barely stopping itself from hitting the ground, the Demon didn't have the time to dodge. The spikes of earth smashed into the Demon one by one. Most crumbled on impact, not leaving much damage behind. One though got lucky and smashed into the weaker wings of the Demon, piercing it.

The Demon roared in pain as it fell from the sky, one wing not enough to support its massive body. It crashed into the ground and the two Mages could feel the shockwave from the crash from where they were standing.

Slowly, the dome of earth crumbled into dust and they saw a bald man leaving the town in the direction of the Demon, a staff in one hand.

They met him half way as they approached the Demon's crash site themselves. Laxus gave him a nod, instantly recognising who he was.

"Laxus Dreyar. S Class Mage of Fairy Tail."

The man nodded in kind. "Jura Neekis. S Class Mage of Lamia Scale." Jura looked down at Levy. "And you are?"

"Levy McGarden. Fairy Tail Mage."

"Pleasure to meet you."

Levy looked at the body of the Demon in the distance. "How did you do that?"

Jura looked at his handiwork. "You mean piercing the Demon's wing? I couldn't do anything before as it was far too high. Once your friend knocked it down far enough, I could reach it."

"I meant getting past its Magical defences?"

Jura smiled. "It isn't anything much to brag about. My Earth Magic is very dense and this Demon doesn't have the strongest defences, especially on its wings. I would make a guess that it never needed them so it focused on other strengths."

Laxus looked at the man with respect. "Just what I would expect of Iron Rock Jura. Your Magic hardens the earth if what I read was correct?"

Jura nodded. "Indeed." He leaned back slightly and spotted Ichigo in the sky. "Your orange haired friend. Who is he?"

"That guy up there? That's Ichigo. Fairy Tail M-"

"Shinigami."

Laxus scowled at the interruption. "Yeah."

Jura released another smile. "Incredible. I never thought I would meet one, especially not one so young."

Ichigo appeared in front of them suddenly, out of breath.

"You okay?" asked Laxus. "That was a big attack there."

"I'm fine." Ichigo took a few deep breaths. "Haven't used Shunpo before so I'm not use to using it for large distances."

Ichigo looked at Jura. "Who's the bald guy?"

That seemed a bad thing to say as Jura almost immediately went into a depression.

"What did I say?"

"Ignore him." Laxus looked towards the Demon. "He's our ally at least."

"Indeed." Jura snapped out of his depression as the Demon slowly started to rise. "You may call me Jura. For now, we have an enemy to face."

Ichigo looked at the Demon and brought up Zangetsu ready. "He's a tough one. Took the full blunt of one of my strongest Getsuga Tenshou attacks and still caught itself before it fell too far."

Levy reached behind her back and pulled out the cylinder. As she brought it out, it extended till a large pole like staff was in her hands. "Solid Script: Steel."

The word attached itself to the staff and the staff glowed for a moment till it disappeared. The staff would hurt a lot more now than before.

Laxus slammed his fists together as he activated Dragon Force, his body expanding as his muscle mass increased. His canine teeth sharpened and the scales appeared on his arms. The lightning flickering around his body intensified with the increase in power and a growl escaped from his throat.

Jura stabbed the staff into the ground behind him as the orb on top glowed. He shifted himself into a combat stance and focused his eyes on the target. He was ready to launch an attack the moment the Demon moved.

And move it did. The Demon rose off the ground and stood up, towering over them. It looked down at them in anger and fire covered its hands completely.

"Reminds me a lot of Natsu," Laxus muttered to the others. He clapped his hands together and lightning sparked between them before it increased in intensity to form a large spear of lightning.

"Lightning Dragon's Heavenward Halberd."

Gripping the spear carefully, Laxus threw it at the Demon. The attack flew at great speeds towards the Demon who simply crushed it with one swipe of its fire claws.

It had moved though. As one claw came down to destroy the attack, Ichigo appeared behind the arm with his sword raised high. "Getsuga Tenshou."

The attack flew down at the Demon and impacted on the same arm the Demon had just attacked with, forcing it to stumble.

Jura was already next. He pointed his index and middle fingers at the Demon and swiped upwards, spears of earth flying up from the earth and impacted on the Demon's chest.

Before it could try and get up, Levy brought back her staff. "Solid Script: Weight." The word appeared at the edge of the pole before she swung, sending the word flying above the Demon. It fell and crashed on the Demon's back, pinning it to the ground.

Levy inwardly smiled proudly. She wasn't sure if she would have been able to get the right meaning for weight in her Magic after using it to lighten herself so she was glad it had been successful with the opposite meaning.

Ichigo dropped down to one of its arms before holding out his left palm and drawing a triangle in the air.

"Bakudou Number 30: Shitotsu Sansen."

The three beaks appeared at each corner and flew into the arm of the Demon, piercing it and holding the arm tightly to the ground.

"You think that will hold it?" shouted Laxus.

He got his answer when the Demon started to move. It brought up its free arm and the claws sharpened beyond what they had before. With one swipe, the Demon plunged the claws into its trapped arm, the flames cutting through the skin and burning the wound shut with the flames.

Ichigo looked at the Demon in shock before disappearing in a burst of Shunpo, barely dodging the strike of the Demon. It may have lost its arm but it didn't make it any less dangerous.

The Demon forced itself up to its feet, Levy's Solid Script: Weight doing nothing to stop it.

"We can't let this Demon get the upper hand," said Jura as he extended the rest of his fingers on his hands. "Use everything you have. We need to finish this in one shot."

Levy turned towards Laxus. "Have this to help. Solid Script: Lightning."

Laxus nodded at her in gratitude before hungrily devouring the lightning word. He smiled in satisfaction. "That hit the spot."

Laxus leaned back and took a deep breath, small sparks flickering around his mouth.

"Lightning Dragon's Roar."

It was exactly as Laxus said. He fired a large blast of lightning as a massive beam from his mouth, just like the roar of a Dragon.

The Demon wasn't willing to give up yet. Fire shot out of its mouth and collided with the attack. The fire split into pieces as the lightning shot straight past it however, the hurried defence not able to stop the Lightning Dragon's Roar.

It struck the Demon dead on in the chest and left it paralysed along with the damage it inflicted. The Demon looked at him in rage as it tried to move.

"Getsuga Tenshou."

The Demon could just about look up to see the large arc of energy flying down at it and impacting, forcing it back down.

Jura swiped with his hands as large boulders of earth sprung out of the ground and collided with the Demon, swallowing it below the rocks. The moment the Demon was sufficiently trapped, Jura brought up his hands.

"Supreme King Rock Crush."

Two large hands of earth sprung out of the ground and smashed the pile of boulders together, attempting to crush the Demon.

The Demon survived but it looked extremely battered. It could barely move after the force of all three attacks and looked to be trying to crawl away.

"How pitiful." Jura shook his head at the Demon. "Even when facing death, I had hoped this Demon would show resolve. At least then, it could say that it went out staying true to what it believed in, despite that being human annihilation."

"It was weak in the end," said Ichigo as he appeared next to the man. "Its flight was its greatest strength because it isn't physically as strong as most Demons. If it was, it would have put up a stronger fight."

Laxus started walking over to the Demon. "We can't let this Demon go. It would just go on to kill more."

Jura joined him. "I agree. Let us finish this."

Ichigo stayed back with Levy and watched as the two older Mages went to finish off the Demon. He needed some rest anyway. Using Shunpo took a lot when you were new to it and he was finding it exhausting. That last attack had taken a lot of energy as well.

"Are you okay?"

Ichigo looked at the concerned girl. "I'm fine. Just need some more time to rest."

The girl nodded before they both turned their attention back to Laxus and Jura. Each Mage had reached the Demon's chest before Jura pinned the Demon down with pillars of earth. Laxus jumped up onto the upper body of the Demon and created another lightning spear. He carefully aimed and stabbed down, directly to where the Demon's heart would be found.

The Demon let out a large roar of pain before it stopped struggling, falling down to the ground. With its heart destroyed, it was gone. It was dead. The town was saved.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

"So you became an S Class Mage only a few weeks back?"

Laxus nodded. "The tasks were tricky but nothing too hard that Ichigo and I couldn't handle. This S Class Quest was more challenging."

Jura seemed interested in this. "You are Master Makarov's grandson are you not?"

"Hey." Laxus grabbed part of the man's robe and forced him to his feet. "What are you implying?"

"Nothing like that." Jura quickly realised his mistake with his question. "I meant that perhaps because you are close to your grandfather, he already knew you had the skills needed. The trial may have just been a formality to pass you if no other candidates were at par with his standards."

Laxus released his grip. "I see. Sorry about that."

"There is no harm done. It was my fault for my poor wording."

"So what's Lamia Scale like?"

Jura raised an eyebrow at Ichigo's question. "It is a good guild, though not as crazy as Fairy Tail is. Why?"

"Just curious on what other guilds are like and how they operate."

Laxus decided to join in with this conversation too. "How much damage does your guild cause weekly?"

Jura looked at the two in confusion. "Not much. Just the bits you would expect on high level jobs. Wh-"

The two Fairy Tail Mages in front of him weren't listening to him anymore. They had suddenly switched to whispers, occasionally eying him as if they were working out how he worked.

"Ignore them."

Jura looked towards the blue haired girl. "But-"

"They won't snap out of that for a while."

Levy let out a yawn but resisted the urge to sleep yet. "Those two really want to change Fairy Tail. I'm with them but I don't understand everything yet. I'm still new to their group."

"They want to change Fairy Tail?" A switch flicked in Jura's head. "You mean they want to change how it works? Try and avoid causing mass damage to the surrounding?"

Levy nodded. "They're always careful on missions but I don't think the others always are, or at least not the kids my age. They like causing destruction and don't realise the impact it's giving us. Laxus said that something needs to be done."

Jura frowned. "It is curious why the guild is still open if the rumours are to be believed. Fairy Tail must have a great ally in the Council to have lasted so long."

"He isn't much help," muttered Levy. "Ichigo does all the work. Even the supposed ally we have on the Council doesn't help as much as Ichigo."

Jura looked at the orange haired Shinigami. "I see. I wondered what I was feeling from being around you three. It's him."

Levy looked lost. "Huh?"

"Can't you feel it? That boy collects people around him and makes them his allies. It doesn't have to be many but the ones who join him acknowledge him like no others. They way I see it, he could ask you two to follow him straight to hell and you would do so."

Levy still looked lost.

"You haven't noticed it yet? You will in time. Even now, I already feel his pull. Give him a little longer and I would most likely follow him one day if he asked me to. He is strong, both mentally and physically."

Jura smiled. "I want to fight him myself one day. A matchup of two warriors, just fighting for fun. Tell him I look forward to it one day."

Jura stood to his feet, the two older Fairy Tail Mages snapping out of their arguments to focus on him. "I bid you all farewell."

Ichigo raised a hand in farewell while Laxus got to his feet and shook the man's hand. "Until next time Iron Rock Jura."

"And until next time Dragon Slayer, Shinigami, and Word Priestess."

Levy smiled at her new nickname before the S Class Mage vanished into the distance. Laxus eventually broke the silence that fell.

"So that's the end of the Quest. Much better than those lower ranked quests."

"I liked it too," said Levy quietly. "Though I wonder how I will find missions with Jet and Droy."

Ichigo answered for her. "Boring." She couldn't help but nod. After chasing down a Demon, helping clear up a park or deliver a parcel would be so boring after that.

Maybe she should take some more quests as a member of Team Fairy then. It had been fun this mission and the one before. And she couldn't imagine fighting in another team.

The three smiled at each other, letting all their worries vanish to the winds. What did it matter about the future at the moment? At least for now, they were nothing more than a team, having the time of their lives. And they weren't going to miss a second of it.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

There ends the Arc. We get onto the next one will a longer timeskip if I am correct. Next time reaches closer and closer to the inevitable conflict that causes Laxus's anger and why Ichigo was gone for so long.

Did you all like Levy here? I got some inspiration from Freed in abilities as we see him enhance himself with some Writing Magic but I knew it had to be done differently. Solid Script isn't as battle focused as the one Freed has so it has to be used a bit differently in how effects work.

Jura is here. I like that guy. Expect him to be stronger in the future too. He became a Wizard Saint after all, and Wizard Saints are meant to be stronger than I think he was originally shown. He isn't Makarov's level when we saw him first and he even said he wasn't close, but I still feel he should have been stronger than he was then.

Did you guys see the new chapter? Devil Slayer Magic. WHY! I now need to change all Demon Slayer Magic to Devil Slayer Magic. That's just so annoying. Why is it Devil too when they slay Demons?

Anyway, till the next time. I've been Takei. Thanks for reading.


	11. Unwelcome Guests

We're a bit late but it is here now. Had some Uni work to do so I didn't have time to edit this till late today. It is still Tuesday though so it still counts as your weekly chapter. Unless you are reading this on Wednesday and in that case, too bad.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or Bleach. Shame, it would be great if I did.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

**Unwelcome Guests**

Ichigo yawned as he forced himself to get up out of bed. Last night's training must have tired him out more than he had thought.

He stretched and got dressed, grabbing Zangetsu on his way out. He always had it by his bed. He had gone so far as to move his mattress onto the floor and remove the rest of the bed entirely just because it was easier to get to in an instance.

He pulled open his bedroom's door and walked into the living area beyond. It had been three years since that S Class Quest. They had taken others sure, but most of the others had never been as thrilling as those days.

Now most of their time was spent training, going on the odd S Class Quest, and trying to spread their image of Fairy Tail, not the one it was currently showing.

People were learning more and more about the guild. You could hear all kinds of rumours in bars that Laxus snuck them into and it was the best way to get the word on how the guild was looking. Most was never very good and few of their deeds managed to change that much.

The Master had yet to stop the guild. He was pushing the boundaries too far even after they had been moved to accommodate them. Everyone at least knew that hiring Fairy Tail invited destruction in its wake so people were always prepared for destruction but then the idiots went and overstepped that line.

Natsu was one of the worst. He was certainly a powerful Mage but he caused far too much collateral damage. And what does the Master do? He gives him a 'stern' warning and tells him not to do it again. He does that every time it happens.

Of course Gray was bad too. He and Natsu's rivalry spread to missions and went they fought, they caused even more damage. Then there were the Strauss Siblings. Lisanna was nice and calm but her Magic couldn't even be very destructive in the first place. Animal Soul wasn't nearly as dangerous to the surroundings as Beast Soul and Satan Soul were.

Why did Elfman have to step out of his shell? He was so much better when he was shy and timid. At least then he wasn't like a walking bulldozer. And Mirajane had no concept of pulling punches. He and Laxus had managed to peak at the reports like they always did and most of the ones about Mirajane were that she intimidated the civilians who hired her when they accidently insulted her. No harm was ever done but it did look bad for Fairy Tail if people were afraid to hire them.

Cana was one of the better ones. She rarely caused damages but she did start increasing the drunkard rumours. She was fifteen yet she could out drink most fully grown adults and caused a fortune in alcohol costs.

Erza was marginally better than most of the younger group yet she was too hasty and wanted things instantly. If she didn't get the information she wanted fast enough, she'd slam her head against the one she was talking to, knock the man out, and then move onto the next one. That cycle would continue till no one even could tell her what she was after.

And she was meant to be an S Class Mage. What the hell was that up with if she acted like this? S Class Mages had to represent the guild and give it a good image. This wasn't the right image.

It wasn't that she wasn't strong because she certainly was. She had passed the S Class Trials just a year back, making her one of the youngest S Class Mages to even succeed. Laxus had been outraged. The older Mage had gone so far to say that Ichigo could have done it even younger if the Master had let him.

The Master had once again looked at him like that. Like he was someone that could be an enemy but wasn't determined yet. The more quests the Magic Council sent, the more the Master looked at him like that.

Those eyes were infuriating. Sometimes he just wanted to scream at the man that he was doing everything he did for the good of the guild but he knew that if he did, the Master would just tell him that he was being silly. The Master wouldn't change anything. It would mean nothing.

The requests the Council had been sending had increased again. It really was a vicious cycle. The more destruction Fairy Tail caused, the more requests he got, which meant the more the Master looked at him like that. Then more destruction would happen and it would repeat all over again.

He gave a short glance at the door and saw a few letters slotted through the mail slot. Already at this distance, he could see the fancy writing he had grown familiar with. It would be from Juushirou.

Ever since all those years back at his first mission, he had only after gotten his requests two ways. The first was just mailed through. They didn't have to explain anything anymore as he knew their terms and they knew his. The other method was when Juushirou himself would drop by.

That had been surprising when the man dropped by not long after the S Class Quest. He was the Chairman of the Magic Council so most would assume he would always be in Era dealing with important matters. When he asked, the white haired man said that Org had it covered and he needed to take a break every so often.

He almost always had a request for a tough mission when he showed up, and they were the ones that could keep someone up at night. The worst missions weren't always ones that involved killing. Since he wouldn't kill for them, they found missions that were actually worse. Ones where you would come home with all faith in the Council being lost because of what they had, and you couldn't even tell anyone the true details to get it off your chest.

One thing he always got in exchange though from these missions was lessons, and they may not have made it worth it but they were helpful. Juushirou had shown him his Zanpaktou and explained he was a Shinigami like himself and that was why he was interested in his progress and helping him get stronger. Part of him knew the man was simply observing his strengths and weaknesses and making him better suited for future missions but he couldn't bring himself to care.

Most of their lessons were Kidou based as Juushirou would turn up with a useful Spell for him to learn that the book didn't cover or he would expand on previous Spells if he was having trouble learning them. He even gave a brief introduction on Kidou Creation one time.

They sparred at times and other times were spent racing with Shunpo. The first time Juushirou had seen his Shunpo, he had looked shocked at his explanation and had shown him a different method. He certainly found that he could move further with Juushirou's method but it still felt different than before. When they sparred, he found he could trick Juushirou a few times by mixing the method of Shunpo he used.

Right now, it seemed the request would just be a normal one. He could look at it later. There wasn't any rush. Unless Natsu did something stupid again. That actually sounded possible. He really should read that letter now.

A quick swipe and a few moments later, the letter was left on the table in the living room, practically being ignored. All they wanted was for him to remove a Vulcan infestation this time. He could do it in no time. It was far easier than their last request.

The requests had been getting easier over time. He didn't like to think much about it. He assured himself that it was simply because he was getting stronger all the time but part of him was always afraid. What if he was no use to them anymore? What if he wasn't needed? What would happen to Fairy Tail without his interference?

He stopped anymore lines of thought following that direction. It wasn't good to get worried too much. It would drive him insane otherwise.

Instead, he could focus on happier things. Things like the S Class Trials coming up.

Laxus had barged in one day before it was announced with a large smile on his face and hadn't told him anything at all. If he had focused more on the date, he would have noticed that the announcement had been the next day and that would be why Laxus was so excited.

There were a few of the younger generation taking place this year. Not just him but also Mirajane and Cana. Mirajane, despite her faults, had the strength. The question was whether the reasonability would break her of her intimidation habits. He doubted it. Erza hadn't changed much either.

Cana was in the trial that took place the previous year so this made it her second attempt. He heard she ran into Erza last year so that couldn't have ended well. If she was lucky, she wouldn't run into him but it wouldn't matter anyway. He was aiming for that top place and he would reach it no matter what.

Only three this year. Last year had a few more but that was those Mages' last attempt and they had given up trying now. There was going to be a lot of competition with the others younger than him in the future but for now, few had the potential.

He had even heard that Gildarts was coming back for this set of Trials. The rumours were that he was an obstacle people had to avoid. Erza was there as well and so was Laxus. The three S Class Mages of Fairy Tail seemed to be something like bosses for the three participants.

He already had his teammate for the trails ready. It had to be Levy. There was no one else suitable.

Levy had definitely grown stronger over the years, probably so she wouldn't be left behind. She had come to love the nickname Jura gave her and now she had managed to get it spreading round Fiore, just like Natsu had done with his nickname, Salamander.

The Shinigami and the Word Priestess. Add in a Dragon Slayer and you had a really weird mix for Team Fairy.

Still, she had lived up to that name of hers. She had become more and more effective with each word's effects and even managed to manipulate them to her own purposes. The word 'Light' before had been used to light up areas but now she could also use it to make herself lighter instead of using 'Weight'. Even controlling the Magic from words like 'Fire' had become easier as she didn't have to fire it as a blast anymore.

She was ecstatic when he told her that she would be joining him for the trials. To her, it must have made her feel like all her effort had been completely worth it.

Laxus meanwhile had managed to finally control Dragon Force. He could lose it sometimes if he got too angry but he mostly had the power under control. Massive muscle mass was a thing of the past as with the new control, that power was focused in his body properly yet not losing the physical strength it had given. Now though, Laxus was much faster with it, especially in his Lightning Form. And his attack power had increase in kind.

Things were going well. He doubted anything could get him down in the mood he was in. He poured himself a drink and was taking a sip when-

"Hey Ichigo."

He spat the drink back out as he glanced towards the sound. Coming out of one of the spare rooms was a blue haired girl, still dressing in pyjamas.

"Levy…"

No that was strange. How long had she been in there? All night? She wouldn't have walked all the way to his house in her pyjamas after all. Unless she was just doing this to tease him and had gotten the pyjamas using Requip. He hadn't taught her it but someone else could have so he wasn't sure if she knew it or not.

But wait. What was that in the room she came from? He passed her without a word and opened the door wide, revealing a room full of books as high as the walls themselves. He couldn't even see the bed in there. How many books did she have?

No. Why was he wondering how many books she had? He should be asking why they were all here in the first place. This wasn't her storage area.

"Levy."

"Yes?" The girl smiled at him innocently, eating cereal from a bowl she had gotten out. How did she even know where he kept all that stuff?

"Why is all your stuff here?"

The girl was saved from answering straight away as Laxus stumbled in from another of the rooms, also dressed in sleepwear.

"Laxus?"

He sped past the blonde haired man before he could stop him and glared into the room. It was filled with all Laxus's stuff, ranging from headphones to bits of clothes thrown about everywhere. The only neat place was on a desk he didn't remember getting and it seemed to be filled with important bits of paper about the guild from what he could see at this distance.

"Why is your stuff here too?"

"Blame the squirt."

"Hey! It's not my fault. Don't pin this on me."

"Who's the one who snuck in first?"

"Who's the one who took too long?"

Ichigo watched the back and forth, not sure what was even going on in the first place. It was absolutely crazy to see the twenty year old Mage argue with someone six years his junior.

"You weren't fast enough."

"Enough."

The two snapped out of their arguments to see his irritated look. "Why is your stuff in my rooms?"

"They're technically spare rooms."

"I wouldn't care if they were monster infested. What. Is. Your. Stuff. Doing. In. My. Rooms?

Laxus gave obvious gestures towards Levy who snapped at him in revenge.

"Levy?"

"Well…" The girl looked around nervously but it seemed to be more out of embarrassment. "I had a little disagreement over at Fairy Hills."

He was familiar with Fairy Hills. If his memory was correct, it was a dorm specifically for female Fairy Tail Mages. There was a steep rent though. One hundred thousand Jewels per month for one room, and more rooms didn't decrease that cost. Levy had even told him once that Erza had gotten five to store all her armours in. It helped S Class Quests paid high else she would have trouble affording it.

They had helped set Levy up there originally until she had been able to pay herself. So what was the problem? And why did he feel like her answer would fill him with so much dread?

"I may have forgotten to pay my rent this month."

That wasn't too bad. But that didn't explain why she had all her stuff here? Surely they could accept one late payment when the guild was owned by Fairy Tail? It didn't seem like the Master would let the owner just kick someone out that easily.

"Still doesn't explain all your stuff being here."

Levy's embarrassment increased as she turned red. "It may not have been the first time I missed a payment."

Ichigo frowned. She couldn't be that far behind with some payments. He and Laxus had paid the owner over two years worth of rent in advance as a precaution just in case she had a load of bad months over the years. Sometimes you couldn't get enough some months if you didn't go on many missions. He should be able to fix this though.

"When was the last time you paid your rent? We should be able to sort something out."

He was already starting to search for his wallet when Levy started shaking her head. "That won't be necessary actually. I'm not really allowed back there anymore."

"What?"

Levy saw the angry look on his face. "It's not their fault. I just got behind on my payments."

"When was the last time you paid if they kicked you out?"

"Well…" Levy fiddled with her hands as she looked away. "Do you remember when we went on our first mission together?"

"Yeah." How could he forget? It was the day she joined him and Laxus on Team Fairy.

"And you got me settled in Fairy Hills later on that day…"

"Yes…" He didn't like the way this was sounding.

"Well I spent that money that day on books like you said and… I kind of couldn't stop after the other missions."

"Levy. When was the last time you paid your rent?"

"Um… What day was it needed to be paid on?"

And there was the dread he had been feeling. "You haven't paid a single Jewel have you?"

"Nope." The girl seemed oddly happy at that, though that must be because she spent the money on books. First time he ever saw someone with a book addiction. Maybe he could find her some help or something.

"So you just decided to crash here?"

The girl nodded enthusiastically. "You had spare rooms so I just took one."

"Without asking?"

"Ah." Levy shook her head. "I knew we would reach this snag if I asked. So I just took the initiative and moved in."

"But-"

Levy stared up at him, putting on the best puppy look she could. Ichigo felt his resolve crumbling. Saying no now would be like kicking a puppy into a street.

He'd put up with her for now. She would find a place soon enough. Right?

He turned towards Laxus. "And you?"

Laxus pointed at Levy. "I saw the squirt moving her stuff in at the dead of night and decided to lend a hand. Of course, then I decided I might as well finish moving in. You'd be less likely to kick us both out if there were two of us instead of one."

"Finish…"

Laxus nodded. "Yeah. I'm surprised you haven't noticed. I've been sneaking my stuff into that room for months so you wouldn't end up not questioning it when I finally moved in here. The three of us spend most of our time here anyway and I was tired staying with Gramps."

Laxus scratched his chin in thought. "I'm surprised you didn't work it out a few weeks back. I mean I walked right past you with that massive desk of mine and placed it in the room. It was a close call that time."

"To be honest, I doubted you would even notice when I finally starting living here too. Levy went for the overwhelming route while I went for the integration route. I even read a book about it."

"You read it too?" Levy rushed into 'her' room and came back out with a book. The title seemed very appropriate for the situation. How to live in your friend's house without them kicking you out. Why did a book like that exist anyway?

"I give up." Ichigo just walked to the cupboard and grabbed some food. At some point, Laxus had done exactly what Levy had done and had already started on breakfast. If you couldn't kick them out of your house, you might as well join them.

He couldn't find it in himself to kick them out anymore as they ate. It felt just like normal which meant that the two living here wouldn't change much. Just as long as they contributed some rent…

Who was he kidding? Levy got kicked out of Fairy Hills for not paying her rent. Here would be no different. And Laxus liked to sneak off whenever he asked for the money he let the man borrow. He doubted he would see that soon. If he wasn't taking these high reward quests, he would have some serious problems with these two.

Of course if Laxus was staying here now too, there was one thing he could pay him with.

"You got some of the details for the S Class Trials didn't you Laxus?"

Laxus looked up at Ichigo and tried to shrug off the question. "This and that."

"So…"

Laxus sighed. "This is revenge isn't it?"

"Come on. The more you know, the better prepared you can be."

Laxus looked to Levy for help only to find she had turned on him too, the cursed puppy eyes staring up at him.

"Fine then. I can't tell you much but I can tell you where we're going."

"That's enough. So where is it this year? Tenrou?"

Laxus shook his head. "Tenrou is rare. We were there for my trial but it will be a lot longer till we go there again. No, this time we're going somewhere ancient. A place just outside one of the most sacred places in Fiore."

"And they're letting our guild go there?"

"We're not anywhere near enough to damage the place. It's more like a background for the first task and a maze for the second."

"Maze?"

Laxus realised he had said too much. "No, not saying."

"Oh come on. That means the first task is a battle task if we can go in the place for the second task."

Laxus nodded in annoyance. "Yeah. Don't tell Gramps I told you that. It's meant to be a surprise."

"I won't. Now where's this special place we're going to?"

"It's a place called the Seireitei. It's meant to be an old fortress-"

Ichigo wasn't listening anymore. The Seireitei. Why did that name sound so important? Why did it sound like it was calling to him? What was the Seireitei?

"Ichigo."

Ichigo was quickly brought out of his thoughts by Laxus, looking at him confused. "Are you okay?"

Ichigo shrugged off Laxus's worries. "It's nothing. Just thinking."

"About the Seireitei?" asked Levy. "It's meant to mean something akin to Court of Pure Souls. Does that help?"

Ichigo shrugged. "I'm not sure. I'll check a few things but considering Shinigami means Death God, it could be related. Then again, I could be over thinking this."

"I can pester Gramps for a bit of info. If anyone in the guild knows, Gramps might. He's knowledgeable about a lot of things."

"I can check some books," contributed Levy. "Maybe something's in there."

"It's okay guys." He didn't want them worry about this. If it was Shinigami related, there was a low chance that they would find anything. It was like searching for proof that Dragons still existed.

Still, maybe he could check with Zangetsu or visit Juushirou. The man had offered an ear if he ever needed to ask something. If anyone knew what happened in Fiore, it was that man.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

A clear blue sky hung above him. There were a few clouds in the sky but none of them looked like they were going to rain yet. He had been here a few times before in good time and bad and he had seen the changed that happened here.

In the happy moments, the sky was clear as far as the eye could see. In the bad moments, it couldn't be seen. A few times after some tough missions from the Council, where it had hit him quite hard mentally, he had retreated into his mind to cope. Here, he had seen the impact that his mood had on the world.

It had rained lightly a few times while he had been here yet Zangetsu said it was nothing compared to what it had been like years ago. He had an idea of what Zangetsu was referring to so he tried not to remember. Each time he did, the sky clouded once more and it came close to raining.

He stood on a large tall building, tilted on its side. The whole world was like this. Everything was tilted in the world yet the clouds still remained upright. He thought he was crazy the first time he showed up here, and it took a while to get use to the fact that he wouldn't fall if he stood up.

There were a lot of these massive towers around this world. Zangetsu once said that they represented his hopes and dreams in this world, and going by the size of them, it meant they were all big goals.

For now, he had to find Zangetsu. The man was normally on a flagpole somewhere, waiting there for him whenever he appeared here.

And there he was. The familiar middle aged man in his tattered black overcoat, his ragged black hair flowing in the wind while a pair of shades shielded his eyes. This was Zangetsu's form in this world inside his mind.

"Ichigo."

"Old man."

Ichigo joined the man on the building before sitting down on the ground and crossing his legs, a pose identical to the one used to enter this world.

It was known as Jinzen. The Shinigami attempting this would sit down on the ground like he was now and cross their legs. They would then place their Zanpaktou on their lap and meditate as they force their mind to join with their Zanpaktou.

This form was more than just simple meditation. Here, any wounds you were inflicted outside were ignored because you were so deeply entrenched in your own mind that nothing could bring you out unless you chose to leave. At the same time, wounds gained in the inner world were reflected outside on the Shinigami's body. If you entered this state, you had to make sure you weren't suddenly about to get attacked or you wouldn't even notice.

Zangetsu looked at him and gave him a nod of acknowledgement. "You are looking for something."

Zangetsu didn't even have to ask him to know what he wanted to know. The old man was a part of his own soul and it knew everything about him. It wasn't that hard to think that the old man already knew what he wanted to ask.

"Have you ever heard of a place called the Seireitei?"

Zangetsu looked at him curiously. "When did you hear of that name?"

"From Laxus. He said that's where the S Class Trials are taking place this year at."

Zangetsu took a deep breath. "The Seireitei is an old place. Very old."

"But what is it? Why does it sound so familiar?"

Zangetsu shook his head. "I do not know why it calls to you. If it was possible, I would advise against going."

"I have to. I can't miss this chance to become an S Class Mage."

"Surely you don't need the name. You are already at the level of power which the name holds. A name does not make you an S Class Mage when you are already one."

Ichigo sighed. "Tell that to the Master. Besides, the only way to help change this guild is to become an S Class Mage in rank. It holds a lot more sway than being just a regular Mage."

"Still, I would advise against going."

This was strange. Why was Zangetsu so against this? He had always supported his decision with becoming an S Class Mage before. Was there something wrong with the Seireitei?

"I'm sorry, but I need to."

Zangetsu looked at him sorrowfully. "I see. I tried at least. Don't blame me for not stopping you when you see what the place has become."

"Wait Zangetsu. What do you-"

Zangetsu watched as Ichigo disappeared from his inner world. He had been forced to make Ichigo leave, less he keep asking questions about the Seireitei. It wasn't good to focus on such a relic of the past, especially when it could only hurt him.

Ichigo certainly was ready to be S Class. He could have done it a year or two back if Makarov had allowed him. If he had done it then, he wouldn't be forced to visit the Seireitei hopefully. There was no way he could stop Ichigo now though. The past would come to light on that place and he hoped Ichigo wouldn't be affected too much by it. The past was the past and it should stay that way. He didn't want to face the rain again.

A loud laugh came from behind him and he swiped out, the oversized trench knife appearing in his hands. The owner of the voice barely had time to dodge before it was forced to retreat back.

"You know if you're too scared of the rain to deal with his problems, put me in charge and I'll do what needs to be done."

Zangetsu frowned at the person. "I am all Ichigo needs. I can keep Ichigo safe myself. He does not need your help."

The person smiled. "Come now. You can't keep me from him forever. I'll get closer and closer to him and kick you out till I'm the one in charge here. I won't listen to what you have to say."

Zangetsu glared at the person. "Then I will make sure that he never trusts you and locks you away as you should be."

The person frowned. "You can't keep this up forever. Against me, you are nothing. I'll be the one to come out on top."

"And how do you intend to fight against me and Ichigo?"

"I'll make him listen to me. I'll make sure our roles here are reversed. Then he'll be mine, and mine alone."

Zangetsu aimed his blade at the person. "If you try anything, I will kill you."

The person smiled in return. "You can try, but if you could do such a thing, you would have done it by now."

The person slowly started fading away as it found itself being absorbed into Zangetsu.

"Just know this, I'll claw my way up eventually. And when I'm strong enough, I'll make sure you know your place."

"That is fine," said Zangetsu as the figure of the man in front of him vanished. "But you will never succeed. I will keep you suppressed for the rest of Ichigo's life. And I will never give you what you want. Ichigo is mine."

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

Ichigo found Laxus and Levy staring down at him as he awoke.

"Anything?"

Ichigo shook his head. "Zangetsu knows something but he won't say. He doesn't want me to go there for some reason but the choice is out of his hands."

"I didn't get anything either," said Levy. "I checked the archives at Fairy Tail. There's barely anything there about Shinigami in the first place and the most I found was fiction. They did say a few things about the Seireitei but they were more like rumours."

"Tell me anyway."

Levy closed her eyes as she remembered, a small smile appearing on her face. "It was described as a wonderland. A capital surrounded by pure white walls. Hundreds of people lived there at any one time and it was one of the greatest strongholds a Mage could retreat to."

Levy shook her head sadly. "Unfortunately, that was all I could get from the books, and I had to cross reference to get this much. The place was old though. Very old."

Laxus nodded. "I got something from Gramps too. Apparently, he had no knowledge of such a place for most of his life. I heard he knew a Shinigami who joined around Gildarts's time and he was the one who told him of the Seireitei and where it was. I don't think Gramps has ever seen the place before but he knows roughly where it is."

Laxus gestured at Levy. "Going by her description, it should be easy to find once we get close enough. Gramps will probably scout it out and put me, Gildarts, and Erza in the path of Cana, you, and Mira."

"In that order?"

Laxus froze, realising what he had said. "Forget that. I never said anything."

"So me and Ichigo have to fight Gildarts?" asked Levy.

"Nope. I'm not saying anything."

"Come on."

"Nothing."

Ichigo looked down at his Zanpaktou and frowned. Whatever Zangetsu was worried about, he would face head on. He had to find out what exactly this Seireitei was, and why Zangetsu didn't want him going anywhere near it.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

And that ends chapter 11. We had a longer timeskip here and it isn't long till a certain event happens.

A bit more humorous chapter this time instead of anything fast paced. It is like the opening for this Arc and it picks up faster next chapter. You all better look forward to it.

In other news, did you see the latest Bleach chapter? They are providing me with more and more stuff to use here. Makes me happy.

Anyway, till the next time. I've been Takei. Thanks for reading.


	12. Three Challengers

I'm ill and rushed to edit this so I'll make this brief. Enjoy chapter 12.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or Bleach. Shame, it would be great if I did.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

**Three Challengers**

"Are we there yet?"

Cana glared at Mira as she asked the same question yet again. "How am I supposed to know?"

"Use your fortune cards or something. Tell us how far to go."

"I told you before, it doesn't work like that."

"Then make it."

Cana stopped and turned to face the girl in anger. "It doesn't work like that."

Mirajane smiled at managing to annoy the girl. "Are you sure? Maybe you just can't make it do it."

Cana's hands dropped down to where she had her cards before stopping, taking a deep breath to calm herself. She wouldn't do this. It wasn't something an S Class Mage would do so she wouldn't fall for Mira's tricks.

Mirajane's smile dropped slightly when she realised Cana wasn't falling for it. That was annoying. It would have been so much better if she could have weakened her opponents before the trials actually began.

Her reasoning for this stood behind her. Ichigo. The guy didn't interact with the rest of them much but he interacted with few people anyway. He was one of the few people Laxus wasn't a jerk with and he was one of the few S Class Candidates in the guild at the moment too.

She envied him in some ways. He had more Magic than most of the guild yet always seemed so in control. He never got those lectures from the Master when a new bill came in or a pile of complaints appeared. The Master wasn't particularly hard on her but almost everyone got in trouble in the guild with very few exceptions. If she hadn't met him, she would have called him a goody two shoes.

Erza had even confessed to her that she thought she was lucky to not have Ichigo in her S Class Trials. She viewed the orange haired boy as both a rival Mage and a mentor. He had given her the idea to learn the Magic she used now and to make it stronger, and he had even taking the time to help fix her mistakes all those years back.

Natsu even respected the guy. That was rare, and something he only seemed to have for the Master and Gildarts. She herself wanted to fight the guy sometimes, just to see how much she measured up against him.

Would she win this competition though? With Ichigo in it, she had her doubts. She wouldn't give up but she could only pray she didn't end up against him. If she did, she hoped he would underestimate her. A straight out fight wouldn't work in her favour.

Next to him like always was Levy. The girl had become a lot more confident than when she had joined the guild, most likely attributed to being around Ichigo so much. She never understood why the Master had looked so worried about her spending so much time around the guy because it looked like it had been worth it. Levy had made great strides forward. Hell, she would probably have the chance to become S Class in a few years time.

Levy never seemed to spend much time with Team Shadow Gear much anymore. She was always with the other members of Team Fairy, doing who knows what. Rumour was that they were training somewhere but only the Master knew where they were. Any time else could find them on missions.

Laxus was the only one missing from that trio at the moment. She never understood what united those three but it was something strong. They were always together, and Laxus acted like a different person while around them. At the guild on his own he was an arse, but with those guys he was kind and happy. It was a strange thing to observe.

She looked at her brother. She was glad she had someone familiar with her for the trials ahead. She was familiar with working with Elfman so that would make things easier. She had debated about bringing Lisanna instead since her sister could use a Full Body Take Over but decided against it in the end. Lisanna was too soft. She didn't like hurting people and so wouldn't be able to fight as well as Elfman could. And while Elfman couldn't use a Full Body Take Over, his Beast Soul was physically stronger than Lisanna's Animal Soul.

Cana had chosen to take a newcomer instead of someone familiar to her. A new guy called Mystogan. She didn't even know the guy existed originally until Cana introduced them before they left. Apparently she had tricked the guy into joining her with some kind of blackmail, but of what she had no idea of.

No one really knew what this guy even looked like. He was always covered from head to toe and even had mask to stop people seeing his face. It was really unnerving to not even know what one of their supposed allies look like.

Mystogan used some kind of Staff Magic it seemed. He had three of them on his back so he had to be good at using them, but she had no idea of what to expect from him. Staff Magic was a simple Magic to start off in but the more staffs you got, the harder the Magic became. Three staffs was already an achievement but it looked like the guy wasn't happy with only three as he would occasionally look back at the staffs unsatisfied.

This S Class Trial really looked like it was going to be a big one. Six strong Mages, three teams, and only one winner.

They had to keep going for now though. The Master had pointed them in a direction and told them to keep walking that way until the path split into three. From there, each team would go down a different path. One for Ichigo, one for her, and one for Cana.

What kind of task was up ahead for them? A battle of endurance like Erza had or perhaps a race like she heard Laxus had. It could even be a two part trial like it had been in other years. That could be best. It meant there was a good chance there wouldn't be an all out war between the teams.

Ichigo barged right past her. She was about to tell him off when she noticed her wasn't even paying attention to her. It was like he was in a trance of some kind. His gaze seemed locked on the horizon, waiting for something to appear.

She noticed Cana looked at him strangely along with everyone else. Even Levy seemed a bit confused about what was wrong with him, and she was his teammate.

"Ichigo?"

He didn't acknowledge her. She resisted the urge to smack him to get him to listen. He was just as likely to hurt her in reflex if she tried.

Levy quickly passed her in her attempts to catch up with Ichigo. She wasn't asking anything despite how curious she looked. How could she be so calm?

Ichigo turned his head and stopped suddenly. It was close. Something was almost within his grasp and he didn't even know what. Where was it? What was he searching for?

The urge had been getting stronger for over an hour now, calling to him, pleading for him to find it. The presence was like an old friend, welcoming him home, but at the same time begging for him to hurry up. He didn't understand. What was happening?

But finally. It was close. Very close. He broke out into a run, ignoring the calls of the others. He wasn't listening to them. The feeling was getting stronger and stronger. It was almost in front of him, he was sure of it.

He stopped at the edge of a cliff, staring across at the ground beyond. The others managed to catch up and joined him in silence. It was even greater than Levy described it.

He could see the giant walls of the Seireitei with four gigantic gates around the circular capital, each one positioned at four equally spaced points across the equally massive walls.

There were layers to the city from what he could see. Hundreds of buildings stretched throughout the Seireitei, walls dividing up areas and turning the whole place into a maze. For anyone who lived there though, they probably knew the way around like the back of their hand.

At the very centre of the great city was a large cliff connected to the tallest building through the Seireitei. It looked magnificent from a distance, and was likely to be even greater close up.

"Is this…"

"Yes." He understood what Levy was asking. This was what he had been chasing after too. That feeling, like he was being called home. It was here.

"Hey Ichigo."

The orange hair teen turned towards Mirajane. "What is it?"

Mira pointed at the area around them. "May want to focus on the task ahead instead of taking in the view."

Ichigo scowled but didn't say anything. Each sign had a different name on. One for each of the three candidates. And Gildarts should be right down his path.

Ichigo raised a hand in farewell as he started down his path. "I'm going on ahead. See you all at the end."

Mira scowled. "Like I'll let you take the lead. Come on little brother."

She dragged her brother down her marked path, leaving only Mystogan and Cana as the ones left at the cliff edge.

"So…"

Mystogan immediately turned and started walking down Cana's path. The girl sighed. This guy really was hard to talk to.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

Ichigo closed his eyes as he waited for Levy to catch up. He could definitely sense someone up ahead. Judging by the amount of Magic the person was emitting, it had to be Gildarts.

How had the Ace being doing? He hadn't seen him in a while, unluckily missing him whenever he went on a mission. The last time they met had been years back after that first Council mission. Did the guy remember him? Did he remember his claim?

The question was how he stood against the current Ace. Against Erza, he would have won easily. Against Laxus, it was a mixed situation. They were both tough but they knew neither one would really fight each other seriously. They had nothing to protect in their fights to force them to go against one another.

Gildarts was another matter. There was no one stronger than him in the entire guild, bar the Master. He was described as a tank and well so. He had gone on S Class Missions and come back without a scratch. The man's Magic could destroy everything in his path and that was even done by accident too.

In terms of raw Magical Power, he definitely had an advantage but Gildarts had just as much with far greater control over it that had been perfected to this degree over years of practice and hard work. He would be one of his toughest opponents by far.

He looked at Levy who stared at him confused. She had come a long way but he was afraid she would get hurt in this fight. Gildarts was bad at holding back according to Laxus and while he could handle it, Levy might not be able to. For all her skills, she still wasn't a potential S Class Mage yet, and that made all the difference in this battle.

Against Laxus, she would have been invaluable. That was why there were always teams of two. A potential S Class Mage would face tasks here meant to be tough for even S Class Mages and the extra person was meant to help give them the upper hand. That's what he had done when he helped Laxus, and here Levy would have broken their stalemate.

But Gildarts wasn't a normal S Class Mage. He was far beyond that.

"Levy." The girl nodded at him. "If I ask you to, stay back."

"But-"

"Levy."

She turned away from him and pouted. "Fine."

He patted her on the head to her annoyance. "Thanks."

She stared up at him. "Are you worried?"

"Yes." There was no point lying. If he needed her to get out of the way, she had to do it in a heartbeat. There could be no room for hesitation.

The two strode forward further into the path. Despite the challenges ahead, there was only one way to get to the end goal. They had to get past Gildarts.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

"So you're here," said Mira as she faced down her favourite rival. "Erza."

"Indeed." The girl in question was enveloped in light before it disappearing, changing the girl's armour. Instead of the usual Heart Kreuz one she had taken to wearing, it had been replaced with a large silver coloured metal skirt and breastplate, two pairs of metal wings attached to the back. Metal gauntlets covered her hands and arms while metal boots protected her feet.

Mirajane was very familiar with this particular armour. Heaven's Wheel Armour. It had some level of flight to it thanks to the wings and was good at facing a lot of opponents thanks to the amount of swords Erza could use while wearing it. That didn't mean for a second that it wouldn't be as effective against her.

"So we're starting already are we," she muttered softly. Like her opponent in front of her, she activated her Magic and transformed.

It always felt strange in Satan Soul. She was changing her entire body to become that of a Demon's, and it had freaked her out the first time she had done so.

A large crack in her face appeared along her right eye and similar ones appeared near her waist one each leg. Her hair went wild and jutted upwards while her ears extended and became pointer. Her canine teeth sharpened and from her forearms down to the ends of her hands, scales emerged. A fin extended off the forearms and connected to the gauntlets on her arms, claws at the end of them.

A tail formed from behind her and her clothes changed to other ones. Unlike Erza who did this with Requip, these clothes were part of the Demon itself. They came with the change.

The outfit formed was a skimpy one, exposing most of her stomach and back. High heeled thigh boots appeared on each leg and a spiky collar appeared at the top of her outfit, finished off with a pink cravat tie around her neck.

Wings extended from her back too. This was the reason Erza would have gone for an armour that could fly. Erza would have needed it so that she couldn't just take dominance of the sky and bombard her from above.

Her brother shivered next to her. She knew this form always scared him slightly. And why wouldn't it. She was channelling the power of a Demon through her body, and the Magic Demons used always had a taint to it.

Elfman held up his right arm and the familiar pattern of Take Over Spells appeared round it like it had done for her whole body. His arm changed as flesh became iron till what was left was an iron arm attached to her brother, the fist clenched.

They had gone hunting for a strong beast right after they heard that she had been nominated. Elfman had needed more strength so he would be able to help her since he couldn't manage a Full Body Take Over so they had gone searching. They had been in luck and discovered the Iron Bull that was terrorising travellers. Elfman had defeated it all on his own and had then gone on to record the Beast's body to his collection of Beasts.

Mira kicked off the ground, flying straight at Erza. The S Class Mage did the same, the two meeting in the middle of the field with a clash. Claw met sword as each fought for dominance.

Another sword flickered into existence and shot at Mirajane, the Demon girl being forced to fly higher to avoid the strike. Erza struck up with her twin swords only for Mira to bring her foot down on them and smash them into pieces.

It didn't stop Erza in the slightest. She had hundreds of swords like the one Mira broke and she proved it by summoning two new ones before Mira could take advantage of her weakness.

Mira was faster than she expected though. She shot past Erza's guard and placed her hands on the girl's chest. Sparks flickered along her hands and Erza's eyes widened in realisation.

Too late. A blast of electricity struck Erza head on and sent her tumbling to the ground. The girl started recovering immediately after being hit only to find herself grabbed by arms of dark energy and pulled straight back towards Mirajane.

Mirajane flew at her, Erza bringing up her swords to block the claws but missed the third attack. Mira used her momentum to flip herself and use her tail to send Erza flying back down to the ground.

Even when falling, Erza still managed to summon swords and fire them at Mira. The Demon girl hurriedly dodged a volley of swords, a few clipping her as they passed and drawing blood.

Mira froze, looking at the wounds. She and Erza had fought before, but never had an attack draw blood. Erza always kept her blades dulled.

"Dance my blades."

Mira spun round to look at Erza who had already summoned a circle of blades around her. Her expression had hardened and her eyes had gone cold. With a swipe of her swords, she sent the ring of blades flying at Mirajane.

Mira fly around the attack before she felt a pain ripple across her back. Acting on instinct, she dropped, the swords from the ring of blades sailing over her head.

She brought a hand to her back and felt the blood across it. It felt painful, and it took a lot to injure her skin to this extend. Erza wasn't holding back in the slightest. She was really aiming to kill her.

She didn't noticed Erza reading another set of blades. Before the S Class Mage could launch them though, a fist collided with her, sending her flying away.

"Sis!"

Mira looked down to see her younger brother. He looked like he had forced a leg transformation just to reach them. That was the downside about their aerial battle. Elfman could barely reach them to help.

"Snap out of it. This isn't my older sister in front of me."

She smiled. That was her little brother. Even if he couldn't join them in the sky, he still tried to help.

Enough worrying. So what if Erza was hitting harder. So what if the blades could cut her. She had the powers of a Demon, and she should start acting like one.

Bringing her hands together, an orb of darkness began to generate, sucking in energy from around her. This was her strongest Spell, and it hadn't failed her yet.

"Soul Extinction."

She saw Erza recognised it too and began to change armours.

It was too late though. Mira brought the orb forward and the energy blasted down at Erza, the S Class Mage being enveloped by the darkness.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

Cana dodged a strike of lightning and fired off a set of cards in retaliation. The cards lit on fire and flew towards Laxus who simply leaned to the side to dodge the attacks.

Mystogan appeared in front of Laxus in the form of mist, Laxus automatically hitting out. The attack sailed through and Mystogan reformed himself the moment Laxus passed through him. Gripping one of his staffs, he spun at Laxus and tried to smash the staff into the Mage's head.

Laxus dodged with his own high speed technique. Activating his Lightning Form, he escaped the attack before it could even connect.

Right in front of him, Cana held out two cards. One for heaven, the other for wind. She swiped at him and the effects of the cards combined, unleashing a massive wave of wind towards Laxus.

Instead of dodging the attack, Laxus fly right into it, continuing on through it and appearing in front of Cana with an enhanced lightning fist.

It connected with her and sent her flying back. She tried to move but found that he had paralysed her with that last strike.

She hated this. They had been at this cat and mouse game since the start of the fight, and Laxus didn't even look like he was getting serious any time soon. He had his headphones on and was listening to music, barely giving them the time of day. He focused more of Mystogan than her to her annoyance.

She could see that Mystogan was strong but wasn't she meant to be tested? She had launched plenty of strong attacks just to try and get his attention, despite how foolish she knew it was. Even if she failed, she wanted to be failed because of her, not because he found Mystogan more interesting to fight.

Laxus stood there, waiting for Mystogan to move. He would always dodge her attacks at first and wait till Mystogan attacked before he moved. Which was what the man was doing right now.

Mystogan swiped with one of his staffs as he jumped, causing a platform of earth to rise out of the ground to catch him. He stabbed the staff into the ground before making a sequence of hand signs.

From all around Laxus, purple waves of energy shot up and tried to grab him. Laxus must have realised the threat and spun round on the spot, firing off a ring of lightning around him to neutralise the attack.

The S Class Mage finished his turn and faced Mystogan, lightning in his hands. A large bolt shot out and flew at Mystogan.

The Staff Mage was ready for it. With the other two staffs placed by him in the ground, he ran through some hand signs and a Three Layered Magic Circle appeared.

"Three Layered Magic Circle: Mirror Water."

The lightning hit the Magic Circles and changed direction, colliding with Laxus in surprise.

"Did it get him?"

A laugh filled the clearing. "Really? You though that would be enough? My own attack? I'm disappointed Mystogan."

Cana had enough. In one hand, she brought out all the cards she would need for an icicle spell. In her other hand was the card for one of her strongest Spells.

Throwing the single card first, it landed right by Laxus.

"The Prayer's Fountain."

Laxus looked at the card in shock before large volumes of water shot out of the card in all directions. The other cards were swiped, releasing a volley of icicles at the water. The icicles hit the water and instead of passing through, they shattered and the ice spread, now spears of ice in place of the water.

Cana smiled as the attacks reached Laxus. She did it.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

"So where is he?"

Ichigo looked around the area. They had come to another cliff like the previous one except this one lacked the same view. Below the cliff was a massive stretch of land, almost barren.

The path they had followed ended here though so they had to be close. The man's Magical Power was easy to identify but it was hard to place. They had to be on the right path but where did they go now? Down?

Ichigo looked down the cliff. It seemed like it would be a wide open space that would be extremely effective for him to use. Kidou and Getsuga Tenshou could all be used at long range. Why would Gildarts choose such a place if he didn't have to? The man's Crash Magic was more effective at closer ranges. A cave or a forest would have been better. Even at the top of this cliff would have been better.

Wait. This cliff was a perfect place for the battle to take place. His eyes scanned the trees around them before stopping on one of them. A patch of a dark cape flowed out of place in the darkness and then clapping started.

Gildarts walked out towards the two. "You actually worked it out much quicker than I expected. I thought you would have blindly gone down to the ground below. It would have worked much more effectively for you."

"This is a trial for S Class Mages. I can't always choose where I fight."

Gildarts smiled. "That's exactly part of the mentality you will need. The battlefield is chosen by the one who gets there first, not the stronger Wizard. In this case, you have the disadvantage in both strength and location."

Ichigo raised a hand to his Zanpaktou and pulled it out of its sheathe. "You say that like it's already over. I don't lose hope because of small things like that."

He looked over at Levy who nodded. The girl put her hand to her back and pulled out her staff. He was glad she had already taken subtle precautions when Gildarts appeared. She already had the Spells cast to allow her easy mobility.

"Well?" Gildarts stared them down. "I'm waiting."

Ichigo shot towards the man in a burst of Shunpo. He reappeared in their sight with his sword swinging at the S Class Mage.

Gildarts ducked under the strike and stuck upwards, his hand connecting with Ichigo's shirt. He grabbed and flung the teen over his shoulder, aiming for one of the trees.

Ichigo grabbed at the air, using his momentum to flip himself upwards. At the same time, he brought his sword back down.

Again, Gildarts dodged it, leaning to the side this time and aiming to strike at Ichigo's wrist.

Before he could connect, the word 'Guard' appeared. In the moment it took to destroy the word with his Crash Magic, Ichigo had already recovered.

Gildarts looked over at Levy, seeing the girl ready to cast any other Spells needed to help. He wasn't sure how things were going with the other candidates' exams but he hoped that they had similar teamwork. The girl wasn't trying to interfere when she wasn't needed with the battle, allowing Ichigo to be the frontline fighter for the two, yet provided the support he needed when he ran into trouble to keep him safe. And she was fast enough to provide that extra moment for Ichigo to escape too.

Then again, what else would you expect from them when they fought together regularly, or at least from what he had heard. Mirajane and Elfman would hopefully have similar teamwork unless it got taken to a level where it would be dangerous to interfere. As for Cana and Mystogan, he hoped they could work together. They would have a hard time otherwise.

He blinked as he saw a flash of light heading right at him and did something he hadn't planned to do. He moved.

The Getsuga Tenshou blasted straight past where he had been standing, leaving a scar along the ground. He already knew he didn't want to be hit by an attack like that.

He looked towards Ichigo. When had the boy released his Zanpaktou? A large trench knife rested in his hands now.

Damn. He lost focus again. That was something he should have been watching out for and he doubted he could just dodge without moving now. That last attack just proved it. He would have to fight a little more seriously.

Ichigo tensed as he saw Gildarts bring his hands up, ready to respond to attacks. It looked like the Ace viewed them with more cautiousness now. It would be much harder to try something like that again. He would be looking out for their tricks.

Still, they couldn't lose hope. There was no way they could stop here.

"Getsuga Tenshou."

His sword swung, the arc of energy flying at Gildarts. He knew that the man should be able to stop it and he was proved right. Gildarts raised a hand towards the energy and a net like pattern appeared across the Getsuga Tenshou. The energy then split into cubes which Gildarts could easily bypass with a few steps.

Gildarts turned back at watched the cubes impact on the ground, each still managing to inflict some damage to the ground. "I'm impressed. When a Spell is disassembled like this, it doesn't normally have much power if it hits something. I guess that speaks for how much power that attack of yours has doesn't it."

Gildarts faced him again. "Now come on. Let me see how far you can push me."

Ichigo vanished in another burst of Shunpo, reappearing in front of Gildarts. The man swung at him with his fist only for Ichigo to disappear in another burst of Shunpo. This time, he appeared right where the fist had just been, out of reach of that strike.

Gildarts was still fast though. He brought his knee up as Ichigo brought his sword down, amplifying the force he used with his Crash Magic. The force was enough to send Ichigo tumbling back. Any chance he had to make use of it was wasted when a hole appeared right under his foot.

The word Levy used disappeared not long after he got his foot out but once again, his opportunity had been wasted. He laughed. He couldn't believe how many mistakes he was making. They must have planned this. He was focusing so much on Ichigo that he forgot she was there. They were really making him work for this, far more than he had expected.

Wait. She moved. Whatever she was doing was fast but he could see her. She moved right next to Ichigo. Why? She was running support wasn't she?

Ichigo and Levy looked at each other and nodded. A signal passed through the two and both weapons found themselves stabbed into the ground. They clasped a hand of the other and Gildarts watched as their Magic Power increased.

Were they… No. They weren't. They couldn't be. But right in front of his eyes, the two of them were attempting to perform a Unison Raid.

How? It wasn't like their Magic types were similar. They didn't have similar elements. It should be impossible unless…

The word for Fire appeared in the air in front of them and he could see Ichigo place a palm on the word.

"Hadou Number 58: Tenran."

Air expanded from the teen's palm and shot outwards, quickly forming a tornado of wind. At the same time, fire shot out of the 'Fire' word in the air and fused with the wind. Now, instead of a tornado to deal with, he had a storm of flames.

So that's how they got around it. It wasn't a natural Unison Raid but they had managed to sink their Magic enough to link the Spells to one another in a way that resembled a Unison Raid. It must have taken them hours of work just to get the timing down and to sync the Magic required from each other.

Gildarts braced himself and raised a palm. He wasn't going to be able to simply blow this attack away. He could easily break the Spell but at the same time, he could end up separating it back down to wind and fire. He wouldn't have enough time to avoid the wind then, and considering the power in Ichigo's own attacks, it would still have a lot of power left if he just disassembled it.

The attack hit and sent him flying back, his feet dragging along the ground. Despite all that, he kept himself upright, his Crash Magic dispersing most of the attack's damage. He slid further and further before he finally came to a stop.

Ichigo and Levy tried not to show their disappointment. Their attack hadn't worked. Not only did Gildarts not even looked harmed, but it hadn't pushed him far enough. They had managed to push him to the very edge of the cliff but it hadn't gotten him far enough to fall off. That could have bought them the time they needed to create a plan or even fight him at longer range.

There was no way they would get the chance now. Gildarts wouldn't take any more risks. He had already been caught off guard twice by them and a third time would be tricky.

"Hey." Ichigo looked towards Levy. "Did you ever finish that new Spell you were learning?"

Ichigo frowned. "The one I kept failing with?"

"Yeah."

Ichigo shook his head. "I can cast it but I can't aim well enough."

"Leave that to me. I'll make sure it hits for you."

Levy grabbed her staff and ran at Gildarts. The man didn't do anything, allowing her to jump right over him and fall down the cliff. He wasn't sure if they were setting something else up but he was too interested now. He wanted to see what tricks these two had left for him.

"So what's now? You've tried to surprise me with your Shikai. You've tried a Unison Raid. What can you have left now?"

Ichigo raised his sword horizontally. "Watch closely. This time, we will reach you."

A yellow orb generated in front of the blade's edge before widening across the entire blade.

"Hadou Number 32: Oukasen."

The yellow energy exploded outwards at an arc towards Gildarts. The man held out his hand and allowed his Disassembly Magic to cut it to pieces, the excess energy flying past him. He noticed too late that Ichigo was smiling.

"Bakudou Number 61: Rikujoukourou."

The light that was passing him froze before switching directions, six thin beams of light forming from them and crashing into his midsection. Gildarts stared at the Spell in shock. The teen used the first Spell knowing he would disperse it and planned accordingly. If he had cast this Bakudou of his normally, he could have avoided it or destroyed it. By forming it from the light around him though, light that he had deemed harmless, he had been unable to react in time and had been caught in the trap.

Now where had the teen gone? He had vanished again with that movement technique. What was his new plan?

"Getsuga Tenshou."

Gildarts felt his blood freeze. His eyes turned to the source of the noise and he saw Ichigo's attack already in motion. This was bad. That attack was powerful, and while he knew he could come out of it relatively unharmed, it would still hurt a lot. He tried to move his arms but they wouldn't respond. He tried to dodge but he couldn't move.

The Spell. It must be the cause of this. He had thought it was something to suppress him but it actually stopped all movement. But still, something seemed off.

The attack smashed down but it didn't hit him surprisingly. It cut into the ground just in front of him. The ground collapsed under his feet and he fell, falling down towards the earth below.

"Sprinkled on the bones of the beast! Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring."

So that was the plan. Instead of a one off attack, they wanted to get a better area to fight in instead. That attack just then had proved that it could cut through the ground easily, so by cutting into the cliff, it weakened where he was standing and made the edge collapse.

"Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm."

The first strike distracted him. The second bound him. The third moved him into position. And the fourth?

"The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle!"

He struggled as he tried to break the Spell holding him. All of this wouldn't be for nothing. The next attack would be one of the strongest. He didn't want to be unable to move when it came.

"Hadou Number 63: Raikouhou."

He saw it just before it launched. A sphere of electrical lightning, generated in Ichigo's palm. It grew to the side of the teen's hand and when Ichigo finished off the command, it fired.

It was strange though. The attack, while he could tell it was dreadfully power, looked too uncontrollable at the moment. All that, and it would miss.

The lightning suddenly straightened from its wild state and flew at him at alarming speeds. His eyes snapped to the ground. Levy. Where did the girl go?

She waved at him from a distance on the ground and he saw what was below him. Her staff.

She could manipulate words and make them into what they literally said. The word 'Iron' became iron. She could go as far as to enhance items with those words. So if that staff was below him, and the lightning was straightening towards him…

A lightning rod. Genius. If the attack couldn't hit him normally, make sure it had no path to go except through him. He let a large smile appear on his face. They got him good.

The attack smashed into him and they could see no more through the dust as Gildarts crashed into the ground below.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

Did you like it? Hope you did. Lots of battles this week.

Not much to say this week alongside the fact that I'm ill. I hate illnesses.

Anyway, till the next time. I've been Takei. Thanks for reading.


	13. Crash Of Monsters

I'm almost back to full health. Just waiting on some of my voice now but I'm almost better. And I saw the results of last chapter. Second most reviews since the first chapter. Amazing. Thank you all. I won't keep you any longer. Enjoy the chapter. Would have been up earlier but I have some stuff to sort out so better late than never.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or Bleach. Shame, it would be great if I did.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

**Crash Of Monsters**

Ichigo watched from above at the scene below. The attack connected directly with Gildarts and now they couldn't see anything. The dust blocked most of their sight but they could at least see where Gildarts roughly collided. It was just by Levy's staff.

That had been quick thinking on her part. Raikouhou was the most powerful attack he had available after the Getsuga Tenshou, and that attack all depended on the amount of Magic used in it. Raikouhou had the advantage of not only a large amount of direct damage but also from a paralysing effect similar to Laxus's own lightning attacks.

It was nothing short but pure luck that they managed to pull that off though. Gildarts sure could be dense sometimes. He was certainly stronger than they were but he if he paid more attention, he would have seen their trap. Strength could be overcome if the right situation occurred.

But why were they set up against Gildarts in a straight up fight? It didn't make much sense. This outcome was from luck mostly and, while they wouldn't have given up, it didn't make sense to put them in this kind of situation. Gildarts was the Ace. He was still wondering when Gildarts would get back up.

So if the task wasn't to beat their opponent, then what was it? There weren't any clues and all they had seen was a path leading here.

Levy ran along the ground, going to reclaim her staff. He ignored her for the most part as he tried to work out what was going on. He and the others were brought here and made to fight an S Class Mage each. Erza would have been easier for him and Levy, and Laxus would have been a challenge. Gildarts was the one who technically outclassed them.

If Cana fought Laxus, then he would certainly be far stronger than her. Mirajane would have Erza who, despite being evenly matched, would still be an extremely tough match. Then why? What was the purpose? They were all set up in matches that were purposely tough to what? Test them?

Raikouhou. Gildarts didn't make much attempt to stop it. His greatest fear back then had been if Gildarts had broken free from Rikujoukourou before Raikouhou had been finished. If that had happened, the man could have stopped the attack with one Spell. It was certainly within his ability.

So he took the attack dead on just to see what they were capable of? But he won't take it unless he was positive he could survive. So that meant…

He was moving before the danger appeared. One second Levy was reaching for her staff, and the next she was under his right arm. He vanished with Shunpo as quick as he had appeared, getting them to a safe distance. The dust was finally clearing.

"I'm impressed. You knew I was attacking just as I started."

Ichigo stared at Gildarts as the dust finally scattered. "I thought something was off. So that attack didn't even do anything?"

"I wouldn't say that." Gildarts reached to his cape and pulled part of it out of the way, revealing more of his chest. Tracing a line across it was a large scar.

"Do you see that?" Gildarts pointed at the scar. "That was your attack right now. And it was brilliant. Your teamwork was beyond what I expected. But you don't honestly think you can continue in your condition?"

"Ichigo?" Ichigo looked down at Levy, still under his arm.

"Sorry," he said as he placed her back on the ground. "I needed to get you out of there quickly."

"But…" She looked terrified. "Your arm…"

Ichigo glanced at his left arm. It hung limply by his side and refused to respond to any of his commands. He knew why.

"It's nothing. I'm still fine."

Gildarts raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? I caught your arm with my Crash Magic as you grabbed Levy there."

"What were you even doing aiming such a powerful Spell at her?"

Gildarts avoided flinching. Those eyes were glaring at him with undisguised anger.

"I knew you would react in time. I wasn't trying to disable her. You are the main threat here. Especially some of those Kidou Spells you use."

Gildarts looked at Ichigo's limp arm. "I noticed your method of casting. You use your right arm to wield that sword of yours, though how you can manage its weight is beyond me. You have your left arm free so you can still cast Kidou with it. While you may be able to use Kidou with your right, you can't do it at the same time while holding your Zanpaktou."

Ichigo glanced down at his left arm. Gildarts got it all right. So there was a brain in that guy. To even use his protective instincts against him to disable him in such a way showed it. And without Kidou, it would severely limit his ability to fight.

And if he had the choice, he would stay with Zangetsu. Kidou was powerful but it didn't have that reassuring feel a Zanpaktou had. He'd rather have that right now.

Still, he wasn't running. This entire thing was all a test. And he would pass it no matter what happened.

Bringing up his right arm, his hand held Zangetsu strongly and he prepared himself. He could not afford to get hit by another burst of Crash Magic. He remembered that old story Gildarts told him so he knew exactly what Crash Magic could do. It was a miracle his arm was even in one piece instead of being blown apart.

Gildarts gave the teen a smile as the sword came up ready again. So the kid still had a fighting spirit in him, even after that injury. That was good. The kid was ticking off everything he was looking for. He had the power. He had the courage. Now was the hardest part. Would he pass?

"Very well. After all you've done, it would be a disservice to not take you seriously now. I will fight you at full strength."

His Magical Power increased, the rocks crumbled, and the earth shattered.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

Mira didn't even see it coming. Erza had been right where she wanted her. Soul Extinction had hit Erza. She was sure of it. Her rival had been caught in the giant wave of darkness the Spell had released on impact and it should have beaten her.

They had sparred before so she knew roughly Erza's level. She had never used Soul Extinction against her before but she knew enough from previous experience to know that it would do the trick. Her ace in the hole.

She thought this so why did the darkness disappear into that spear, and why was it protruding from her chest?

"SIS!"

She fell. She didn't know when she began falling and when she stopped. She looked up at her brother to see him holding her in his arms, panic covering his face.

"You'll be okay. You'll been fi-"

He was cut off as he found himself being sent flying. Mira looked up at her brother's attacker only to find Erza standing over her body, barely a scratch on her from the attack.

Her armour had changed. It was now pure black with a pair of creature like wings on the back of her armour, a lot like those of a bat's. Large crosses decorated the shoulder pads and the same crosses appeared on plates that were flanking her and that were attached to her at the waist, forming a skirt of sorts. Protective plating covered her arms and legs while a small breastplate protected her chest, exposing most of her stomach. And to finish it all off, her hair was now no longer loose and was instead tied up in a high ponytail.

This armour was a much faster one than before, and far greater at flying too. The Black Wing Armour. It was one of Erza's most powerful offensive armours as it increased her damage with her weapons.

But what happened to the darkness?

"I kept it a secret."

Mira strained her neck to look at Erza.

"This weapon is called De Malevo Lance. I would normally use it with my Giant's Armour because it lets me throw it better but circumstances forced me to make do here."

Erza grabbed the spear from Mira's chest and pulled it out without a hint of remorse. The demon girl groaned in pain and had to cover her mouth to catch some of the blood threatening to escape. "The power of this weapon is in its ability to seal away darkness. With the power of my Black Wing Armour, it had enough strength to negate your Soul Extinction."

A flash of light appeared and the spear vanished, being replaced by a simple sword. It was placed by Mira's throat.

Mirajane froze as the sword appeared, not even trying to move. She was afraid. But this was Erza. They fought but they were still friends right? She wouldn't really kill her?

But that face and aura. Erza had increased her Magical Power with her threat, making it look more and more like she would really do it. And she didn't look like she had anything stopping her. There was no guilt on that face or anything. It was just blank and serious.

Was this what people felt when faced by her Demon Form? She didn't know what to do. She didn't want to die. She wanted to live.

She knew what she had to do. It would hurt her pride but she would rather live.

"I surrender."

In those two words, Erza's personality did a one eighty. The sword vanished and her armour returned to her usual set. No longer did Mira feel afraid and no longer did Erza have that blank look on her face. Instead was a warm smile.

"You passed."

Mira's jaw dropped. "What?"

Another flash of light and a medical kit was in Erza's hands as she started treating Mirajane's injuries. "I'm sorry. I had to act like I was willing to kill you."

Mira still looked lost. "Why?"

Erza smiled at her rival. "Every S Class Mage had some sort of trial to overcome that wasn't to do with strength. It is normally to do with fear but it can change. I wanted to teach you that you don't always have to stay and fight. Sometimes you can give up the fight, even if it means your pride is lost, just as long as you can live another day to reclaim it."

"So you-"

"Put you into a situation where you had two choices. Try to fight in your condition and have a chance to win but ultimately die, or to surrender to me so you could continue living. And in Fairy Tail, we never want one of our comrades to die. We want everyone to always keep on living and having fun together."

Erza helped Mira to her feet just as Elfman appeared. "Go on. The Master will meet you up ahead. Take the next step towards S Class."

Mira nodded as Elfman took her from Erza. She refused his aid though. Even if she had to lose to pass, she didn't want to show any more weakness for now. She would walk on her own, and take pride in that.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

Laxus stood over the body of Cana, the girl barely conscious. Mystogan was already down for the count and it was unlikely he would be up any time soon. He hadn't held back.

He stared down at Cana. "Why?"

She looked at him confused. "Why what?"

"Why didn't you use that attack earlier?"

Cana looked away in shame.

"You understand why don't you?" The girl nodded. "If you had used that earlier in combination with Mystogan, you would have passed."

"You focused too much on him. Wasn't I your opponent?"

He shook his head. She still didn't get it, even if she knew she should have worked together more.

"Why did I focus on Mystogan? The better question is why didn't you use that to your advantage?"

Cana still didn't understand. "But-"

Laxus swiped with his fist, lightning flying to the ground and shattering it. "Look at this!" he roared at her. "Did you really want to fight me? Did you want my attention focused on you?"

Cana looked at him fearfully, slowly shaking her head. Laxus seemed to calm down at her answer.

"Good. You aren't a complete idiot." He looked over at Mystogan. "I focused on him because he was technically the bigger threat in the short term. You're like Levy. Both of you can handle battles up close and react fairly quickly but your strength is different than just sheer power. Your spells work most effectively in combination like that last one."

Laxus sighed. "Why didn't you attack me when I was distracted? Why did you wait for me to finish blocking Mystogan's attacks?"

"It-"

"Didn't feel right?" Laxus laughed. "You can only say those words when you become strong enough to fight as an equal. Do you really think you would be able to challenge me as you are?"

"S Class Quests aren't as simple as people always think. Some are just longer missions with tougher enemies but some require other methods rather than brute force. If an enemy is distracted, take them down during that time. When someone is stronger than you, don't fight how they want to. Use what you can and they can fall."

Cana looked down in shame. Laxus didn't bother trying to comfort her. He wasn't good at that stuff anyway. Besides, he was only meant to test her. Technically, he wasn't required to explain what she did wrong. Ichigo really rubbed off on him.

"I'm sorry, but you fail."

He ignored the tears falling from the girl's eyes as he walked away. It may hurt for her but she would grow stronger with this failure. In all honesty, he believed Gramps had been too hasty with her participation. This was the girl's second trial and she failed again.

He didn't know what was driving the girl, as she seemed to have much more passion in these trials than anything else. The problem for her was that each time she failed and others passed was another blow to her own self esteem. It wouldn't have helped that Erza passed first time at such a young age while she had failed twice now.

He glanced over at Mystogan as he left. While the guy was new, he had potential. Something felt off about him though. His Magic seemed too… artificial? It was off slightly, originating from the staffs rather than his body.

He had to be imagining things. He wasn't brilliant yet at sensing Magic. Being around Ichigo always made it hard because you didn't even have to try to find that guy. It made it hard to find Levy originally though when she was near his friend.

He would have to keep an eye on this Mystogan. No one ever knew what he looked like and, while he could understand some privacy, he was too secretive. He didn't even interact with the guild much, if ever. He just appeared, grabbed a request or two, and then vanished for weeks on end.

He could sense the Magic being released dying down over when Erza and Mirajane were. So they had come to a conclusion too eh? He wondered what Erza had been testing for. Him, Erza, and Gildarts all had something they wanted to see in how they were testing, and it meant that neither one of the trials were the same. Erza was all about survival and pride, he was all about taking advantage of openings and using what you could get, and Gildarts…

Well he was all about fear.

The man's Magical Power was said to be overwhelming. Even he and Erza would get a little scared in the face of it. The man was a monster like Ichigo was.

He could already sense it in the distance. Even all the way over here, he could feel the ground shaking. Over at where the source of the Magic was coming from, he could see the pressure Gildarts was exerting around him. So much Magic was being released around the man that had stretched into the sky as a pillar of Magic, so dense and heavy from the sheer quantity of it.

He really hoped Ichigo passed. It was one thing to fight someone. It was another to fight fear. He could only pray that he and Levy would be okay.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

A crater was what Gildarts was standing in. The sheer force of his Magic had shattered the weakened ground beneath him and even the crater beneath him looked like it would break even more soon enough.

It was terrifying. The air was saturated with the man's Magic, making it harder to breathe. He subconsciously raised the amount of Magic he emitted just to stand easily. Still, it was scary.

While Ichigo tried to calm down, Levy was in a worse state. She stared at the S Class Mage ahead of them, frozen.

What could she and Ichigo do? They couldn't fight someone like this. It was impossible. The man just released his full power and the ground broke apart. They would be obliterated.

Was it getting harder to breathe? She felt like it was getting harder and harder as each breath became further and further apart. Was this normal? Were they going to die from just being near the man?

She couldn't give up. She couldn't lose hope. But she still felt it slipping away. She collapsed to her knees, her breathing almost stopping from the amount of time between each breath now. What could they do against such a monster? They were going to die? They were-

Warmth. Suddenly everything she had been feeling vanished, the warmth replacing it just as she was about to lose consciousness.

She saw Ichigo with an arm around her, his body positioned to shield her from Gildarts. She could feel his Magical Power around her, keeping her safe from the effect Gildarts's was having on her.

"I'm sorry. I'm going to need to ask you to stay back now."

"But…"

"Levy." She looked up at him, worry written over his face. "Please."

She found herself nodding. Despite how much she didn't want to leave him to fight alone, she knew she had no choice. She couldn't even breathe in Gildarts's presence, and if she stayed there any longer, she would be completely useless.

She hated that weakness.

They vanished, Ichigo's Shunpo moving them far away in the blink of an eye. He set her down carefully. She still felt weak from Gildarts's Magical Power but she could feel herself slowly recovering.

Looking around, she could see they were at the furthest edge of the arena, reaching the continuation of the massive forests.

"Stay safe here. I'll be back afterwards."

She wanted to point out his lie. She knew how much danger Gildarts would be now. They could barely do anything before when he wasn't even serious. What chance would Ichigo have?

She had to believe in him at least though. This was Ichigo after all. He always pulled through. He always managed the impossible. He would be okay.

Ichigo gave her one last worried look before he vanished again, returning to the new battlefield for him and Gildarts. The man watched him return, not having moved from his spot as if he had been waiting patiently for him.

Gildarts glanced over in the direct he had roughly seen Ichigo vanish at. "I assume you took her somewhere safe? Are you sure you won't need her?"

Ichigo shook his head. "She's safer away from this fight."

Gildarts understood what the boy meant. Someone who couldn't even breathe in his presence would find it impossible to fight him. It was be nothing short of suicide. That left only the two of them.

Ichigo looked different now though. He was slowly getting use to used to his Magical Power and any problems breathing had been eliminated almost instantly. The teen's own Magic instinctively increased as his own did, as if excited by the challenge his own Magic was showing.

And the boy's eyes. Where was the fear in them? He had seen some at the start but it was slowly vanishing, being replaced by a fierce determination.

Normally, he would have failed someone if they hadn't given up. That was the main way to pass this test. You needed to show fear and act on it. You had to give up. It was the only thing left that you needed if you ever wanted to reach the top of the Magical World. It was a requirement of an S Class Mage in his opinion.

But then, had he ever expected Ichigo to give up? He probably would have been disappointed if that had happened, even though it was what he was looking for. And it wasn't that Ichigo seemed to not be afraid, rather than he had discarded it.

Fear wasn't evil. In battle, it could hinder you, but it did show you your weaknesses and allowed you to become strong and gentle. That was what he believed. Discarding it should be foolish.

But that look on Ichigo's face. He hadn't given up. Why? He wanted to know. Could Ichigo be the first person to pass another way? Could he have the strength to stand up against him and fight his fear?

It was time to find out.

Ichigo shot towards him, striking fiercely at him with his Zanpaktou. It was stronger than before he noticed, and much faster too. He had to dodge it more carefully this time compared to before.

He made to strike at Ichigo in the moment of recovery but found Ichigo already gone, appearing behind him.

That was new. He changed his Shunpo speed somehow and slipped straight past him without him even being aware of it. Smart.

Dodge, strike, dodge, strike, dodge and strike. This was their game of cat and mouse. Neither one was giving any ground.

So he could deal with this level could he? It was time to step it up.

He shot his arm out faster than before, Ichigo barely dodging the blast of Crash Magic as it shot over his head. He brought his sword up, trying to swipe at Gildarts only for the man to grab the blade by the edge and swing him over his shoulder, hitting the orange haired teen in the process.

Ichigo glanced from Gildarts to his blade, a moment of fear appearing before it vanished. Gildarts inwardly smiled. So Ichigo already knew what he had done to catch the sword. By covering his hand in a layer of Magic, it overwhelmed the attacking power of the blade and dulled the blade considerable.

He wondered when Ichigo stopped dulling the blade in their fight. It was probably when he got serious. Fighting someone like himself with a dulled blade was suicide if you weren't strong enough to compete normally.

Ichigo came at him again, but this time he didn't bother dodging as much. He wasn't anywhere near as fast as Ichigo across distances but as long as he was within his range, he wouldn't lose in speed. Every time Ichigo used Shunpo to dodge, he was already striking at where the teen had moved to.

Ichigo was falling back. He could see it. Ichigo's sword swings weren't effective against him anymore while his own attacks were damaging the teen, even if they were only amplified by Magic. He barely needed to use his Crash Magic.

He was easily winning now. There was no other way to describe what was happening. Ichigo had no hope at stopping him yet he still kept fighting. He still kept trying.

Ichigo was close. He could sense it. But he needed to be sure.

"Why do you keep this up?"

Ichigo frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Gildarts let the teen have this moment to recover. "This fight. You know I'm stronger than you. You know I outclass you. So why? Why do you persist when you know it is futile?"

"What are you talking about?" Ichigo laughed. "You think because you're stronger than me that I would give up?"

Ichigo raised his sword and pointed it at the man. "I knew from the moment we started fighting who was stronger. So no matter how much stronger you get, it won't be enough to make me give up. I'm still going to fight."

"I bet you wanted me to run didn't you? I bet you wanted me to surrender. Well look around." Ichigo pointed at himself and at Gildarts.

"Zangetsu once told me that fear clouds the senses. There is only one enemy here and only one of me so what should I be afraid of?"

Ichigo raised his sword and aimed it at Gildarts. "Cast off your fear. Look forward. Go forward. Never stand still. Retreat and you will age. Hesitate and you will die. These were the words he said to me."

Gildarts examined Ichigo, looking for any signs of lies. He could still see some fear in the boy despite his words but it wasn't stopping him.

He had learned something over the years. If you continued into battle while afraid, you would die. Dodging while being afraid of getting hit, attacking while being afraid of hitting the opponent, and protecting someone when you were afraid of them dying. These were classic examples people showed when afraid.

But Ichigo wasn't showing these things. When he dodged, while he was hit, the mindset was definitely there. He was dodging with the intent to not let him hit him. If he was protecting someone, he could tell Ichigo would be thinking that he wouldn't let them die.

And when he was striking at him, he saw the key one. When he attacked, he did it with the belief that he would cut him.

Ichigo had the mindset needed to fight even in fear. If he had that, then he saw no reason why he shouldn't pass the teen. He really did surpass all expectations put before him.

But right now, he was going to keep fighting. A large smile filled his face. This was some of the most fun he had gotten in years. Ichigo wasn't his level yet but he got him to fight seriously, and that was rare in itself. He would enjoy this a little longer.

"Come on then. Show me this resolve of yours."

Ichigo swung his sword, a Getsuga Tenshou flying off the blade. Gildarts shattered it with a swipe of his hand and blocked as a sword came flying through the smoke from the attack. A foot kicked out and he blocked it with his own. His other hand shot out and chucked the Shinigami away.

Again, Ichigo attacked. He began losing himself in the fight, just as the teen was. He even threw in a few weak Crash Spells into the mix.

Rocks shattered around them and the ground gained new craters. Neither one was willing to back down and neither one wanted to show any weakness. Gildarts blasted through another Getsuga Tenshou with two Crash Spells, the second to force Ichigo to move before catching the blade of the Zanpaktou as it swung at him from behind.

He brought up his fist and prepared to smash it down on Ichigo when a scream filled the air.

Ichigo broke out of Gildarts's grip and was already moving, disappearing in a burst of Shunpo. Gildarts broke into a run, attempting to get to catch up. That scream had been from Levy, and it hadn't sounded good.

Ichigo was back where he placed her down in moments. She wasn't there. His eyes scanned the area, looking for her desperately.

"LEVY!"

Where was she? She had to be okay. She was out of the way. She wasn't meant to be able to be harmed at such a distance.

Unless… No. That wasn't meant to happen.

But Gildarts never said how far Crash Magic travelled if unopposed. He had dodged a few Crash Spells very recently and he hadn't been paying attention to where he was standing. If one had travelled this far, then Levy could have been caught in it.

He scanned the area, looking for a sign to dismiss his fears. The more he looked though, the more scared he grew. The area certainly did look like it had been caught in a blast, and it seemed like it could be Crash Magic.

A sound distracted him and he turned to where Levy had been. One of the destroy trees had droplets of a liquid falling off it into a small puddle.

That wasn't water. Water wasn't red.

Gildarts had said how destructive his Magic was. And after all these years of refining it, what would happen if it hit someone? He had a feeling that they would be completely obliterated, leaving barely a trace of their own existence.

He collapsed to his knees, Zangetsu falling from his hand. No. She couldn't be dead. He moved her all the way here to keep her safe. She wasn't meant to get hurt. She wasn't meant to die.

He could hear Zangetsu in the corner of his mind trying to comfort him but he didn't listen. He was too lost in despair. Levy was dead, and it was his fault. She would have been defenceless against Gildarts's Magic, and because of that, he failed to protect her.

He got another person killed. Just like how he got his mother killed.

Was he even worth the Fairy Tail name anymore? Just like he wasn't worth the Kurosaki name, would he have to cast of the guild's name in shame?

Footsteps sounded nearby. Gildarts appeared and examined the clearing like Ichigo had, confusion filling his mind.

He knew for certain that his Magic didn't stretch this far. Crash Magic had a sizeable distance for such a close range style of Magic but it shouldn't have travelled this far, even at full strength. The distance was too long and the attack would have collapsed before even getting close.

But Ichigo wouldn't know that. He would be panicking and his mind would create answers that would be bad for both of them.

"Ichigo?"

He wasn't responsive. He slowly reached towards the teen.

Ichigo noticed the S Class Mage's approach but ignored him. What was he to do now? What good was he?

"Avenge her."

That voice. It wasn't Zangetsu. It was someone else. He recognised the voice. He had heard it all those years back after his mother's death.

It sounded an awful lot like him own but there was an echo to the voice. He hadn't noticed it back then but it was there.

"He took her from you. It's his fault she's dead."

Yes. The voice was right. He couldn't let this anger and pain go. He had to make the man suffer. He wanted to kill him so bad. But there was no way he was strong enough. He had already seen proof of that.

"Let me out. You aren't strong enough. I'll destroy him."

Would this voice he was hearing be powerful enough? He desperately wanted to kill Gildarts with his own hands and his own mind, but if this was the cost to get vengeance, he would pay it.

"Leave it to me."

He could hear Zangetsu's warnings in the back of his mind, trying to stop him from listening. He was too upset and angry to listen though. He felt the control of his body slipping away from him and instead of fighting it, he let it happen.

"I'll kill him for you King."

As Gildarts's hand was about to touch Ichigo on the shoulder, he withdrew it as fast as he could, barely avoiding having his hand severed.

Laughter filled the air. It was madness. It was insanity. The laughter was just too crazy in its sound for it to be anything else. And it was coming from Ichigo.

The boy stood up from the ground, bringing the sword of his up onto his shoulders.

"Well? Why are you just standing there like an idiot?"

Gildarts spun round, his fist snapping out and firing off a Crash Spell. It intercepted the blade that had been swinging for his head, stopping the blade's momentum and sending Ichigo flying back.

He saw the teen in front of him and shot his head back round, seeing where Ichigo had vanished. That was fast. He reacted on impulse, and it had just saved him.

Ichigo's Shunpo hadn't been that fast before. He would be able to keep up with it, he was sure of, but he hadn't expected such a massive jump in speed from before. It was a bit frightening.

Ichigo stared at him, a smirk on his face. Was it really Ichigo though? That laughter was too weird to be natural and that voice hadn't been Ichigo's normal voice. There had been a strange echo to it. And the teen's eyes. They looked like they wanted to rip him apart. But it was their appearance that really freaked him out. The pupils and sclera had turned black while the irises had turned yellow. That wasn't normal.

"Ichigo? No. Who are you?"

The person smiled wider. "Well well well. Look who figured it out." Ichigo slowly clapped. "I'm impressed you figured it out. Was it the eyes?"

Ichigo suddenly shot forward, the blade aimed to pierce through his chest.

"Or was it because of my instincts?"

Gildarts batted the strike away before grabbing Ichigo's right arm. "I asked you a question. Who are you?"

Ichigo smiled. "That's a stupid question. I am who I am."

Gildarts almost missed it. An attack shot at him from his right and he dodged under it, smashing his free hand into Ichigo's chest and using a small amount of Crash Magic to send him flying away.

As Ichigo was sent flying, his eyes turned to his cape. It had been caught by the attack, a small section ripped off by something.

His answer was in front of him. Ichigo stood up and held out the piece of cape mockingly, clutched in his left hand.

How? He crushed that arm earlier to the point where it should be unusable. It shouldn't have healed enough unless he had visited a healer afterwards. But here was Ichigo swinging his arm around like there was nothing wrong with it, and he could tell whoever was in control was doing this just to taunt him.

Healing Magic wasn't the most common Magic in the world and the speed it could be done at varied to large degrees. What kind of Magic was this though? He had never heard of something that allowed the user to heal themselves this quickly. Bones had to have been fixed and muscles re-grown and it could only have happened after the change. If it had happened before, Ichigo would have taken advantage of it. No, this was all the result of this thing.

He rushed forward, Magic enhancing his limbs as he shot towards Ichigo. His opponent was surprised by his sudden speed and tried to pull back to dodge but he wasn't going to let him escape so easily. One blast of Crash Magic and it shot straight into Ichigo's chest.

The teen flew away much further, a few unlucky trees breaking as he crashed through them. He hadn't held back too much with that strike. He needed to know how far that regeneration went.

He saw Ichigo struggle to move before slowly getting to his feet. His attack had ripped through the teen's shirt and he could see the bruises on the teen's chest.

That attack should have done more. He had meant to crack half the boy's ribs with that strike. This regeneration of his was stronger than he predicted if the damage had already been healed. And true to his word, he could already see the bruises disappearing.

In any other circumstances, he would have been fascinated by such powerful Magic. Right now though, he didn't have time to wonder too much about it. This was a battle, and whoever was controlling Ichigo wasn't afraid to try and kill him. The aim of the strikes so far had proved that, and he doubted the Magic he was using to protect his body would be able to block the blade against this opponent. It was why he had made sure to knock the blade away instead of catching it.

And if this wasn't Ichigo in control, he doubted trying to reassure the boy would do any good. Ichigo believed that he had killed Levy after all. Why would Ichigo try and stop his own attacks if Ichigo himself wanted revenge.

Ichigo stood up before looking at the blade in his hand in disgust. He grabbed the chain at the end of the hilt and gave it a few swings from it, the blade quickly spinning around.

The sword suddenly flew at him from Ichigo. The attack was easy to dodge but he didn't expect what happened next. As the sword flew past, Ichigo appeared right next to the blade, grabbed the hilt of it, and used his feet to dig into the ground and swing around.

Crash Magic erupted from his feet as he sank deep into the ground. The blade swiped over where his body would have been a second ago and he struck up at Ichigo, blasting the teen into the aim.

Ichigo flew up before kicking at the air above him, forming a tiny platform of Magic under his feet and using it as a springboard to launch himself back down. Energy gathered around the blade and a large Getsuga Tenshou shot at him.

Gildarts pulled an arm back and punched, Crash Magic accelerating his fist to blast the attack away, before he quickly leaned to the side as the blade of the sword swung past him. The two fighters turned to face each other as fist hit blade, each side fighting for dominance.

Ichigo was sent flying back again and the pattern continued. Gildarts would dodge another set of wild attacks and would get some blows in, causing damage to be done to Ichigo, only for it to all be healed a few seconds later and for him to attack again.

This Ichigo was tricky to deal with. Trickier than he would have liked. And he was definitely stronger than Ichigo. The advantage he had though was because of that Zanpaktou of Ichigo's. Whoever was in control of Ichigo would keep looking at the blade and he could tell that person was finding it hard to control.

It didn't match the person's style either. He was using Ichigo's body in a berserker style, relying on that regeneration trick to heal the damage he was taking and instead focusing on trying to hit the enemy and overwhelming them with superior strength. Ichigo's Zanpaktou had been more effective in those sudden quick strikes, not the strong overpowering ones this person was trying.

It would have still been effective, if he was a lesser opponent. But he was still Fairy Tail's Ace. He had completed Ten Year Quests, and he had fought Demons stronger than this. And he could handle someone using a blade they were uncomfortable with for certain.

This fight wouldn't last much long either. Each time that regeneration happened, he felt a drop in Ichigo's Magical Power. To sense such a big drop meant this Spell took up massive amounts of Magic. There was still a lot of Magic left, but he could outlast Ichigo.

Ichigo scowled at him before jumping from his latest attack. He ascended as he escaped and suddenly stopped. Gildarts gave him all his focus. Whatever he was planning to do, it would be big now. People always saved trump cards for when they were losing like this.

He felt Ichigo's Magical Power skyrocketing. From the look of it, this next attack would be the deciding one. This would be a pain. This was a lot of Magical Power that was being unleashed at one point.

Ichigo brought Zangetsu back, his other hand joining the right on the hilt. He held it back with both hands, ready to swing as massive amounts of energy gathered around it.

This wasn't a normal Getsuga Tenshou. This was much more powerful than any Ichigo had used before. Gildarts could see the power it held. There was simply so much energy wrapped around the blade that it couldn't be contained and was overflowing in massive amounts behind the teen.

He swore. He had gotten arrogant. He hadn't believed the Getsuga Tenshou was capable of this kind of power, but then no one had expected this much Magic to be put into it.

He could not let himself get hit by this. An attack like this would kill him. There was no way he could escape the blast though. He had to cancel it out.

"Too late," Ichigo cried out. "GETSUGA TENSHOU!"

Damn. Would he make it? What he was doing was risky.

The sides of his palms came together as he stretched them out towards the Getsuga Tenshou. He waited till the attack was almost upon him before separating his palms and swiping them to the side.

"Crash Dispersal."

His Magic flew out and connected with the Getsuga Tenshou, both attacks fighting for dominance. He knew a normal Crash Spell wouldn't be enough to stop this attack so Crash Dispersal would solve that problem by spreading the attack out and hitting it with multiple Crash bursts simultaneously.

That was how it worked in theory but it was very hard to time. A second too late and the attack would break through. A second too earlier and the attack would be too far away to work successfully.

He didn't give up supplying Magic to his attack. This was a battle of Magical Power, and whichever one had the most would win.

Finally, the two attacks imploded, each being destroyed by the other. Gildarts panted and tried to draw in a few large breaths, trying to recover from the sheer amount of Magic he had been forced to use so suddenly.

He froze and tried to spin round, Ichigo already behind him. How had the teen gotten past? He hadn't seen anything or even sensed anything.

He could already see he wouldn't be able to avoid the blade. It was too late. All he could do was try to force the blade to miss any vital areas.

He pushed forward with his feet, Crash Magic firing him away as the blade tore across his skin. He was lucky. He avoided most of the blade and it had barely managed to cut the skin, the wound shallow along his arm.

Instincts took over and he slammed his fist into Ichigo's chest, not willing to let him have the time to recover. Crash Magic erupted from his fist, blasting through Ichigo and breaking half the bones in the teen's chest and possibly even crushing some of the teen's organs.

Ichigo struggled to stand for a moment, even with his spine shattered, before he finally collapsed. Already, Gildarts could see the signs of regeneration but he knew it was over. As the last of the damage healed, he could sense how low Ichigo's Magical Power was at.

"Damn. Sorry. I missed King."

The eyes changed as the teen collapsed, returning to their usual brown.

Gildarts finally let himself relax. It really was hard to fight someone this strong while still trying not to completely obliterate them. It Ichigo hadn't been able to regenerate somehow, he could have saved them a lot of trouble.

He touched the small wound on his arm, just by his shoulder. It really was faint. It was only luck that saved him there. He hadn't expected Ichigo to try one last strike after that Getsuga Tenshou. The lingering energies from the two attacks had provided large cover for him to slip past suddenly and he had almost gotten him.

As for that Getsuga Tenshou, the damage it had done along with his Crash Magic was evident all around them. Half the landscape had been blown away from that last strike, a new large crater decorating the landscape. He was certain that the ground had been higher in places too. That had certainly been a powerful clash.

Ichigo looked okay now, and that was good. He didn't know what that thing was, but he didn't want to know either. It was too strange and powerful.

But now, he had someone else to deal with. His head turned towards the forest and glared into the darkness through the trees.

"You better have a good explanation for what you did."

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

Okay. Who thought the S Classes Trials had really ended? Come on. Admit it now.

I couldn't end it there last chapter though. It ended with everyone passing from a rough outsider view, though a lot of you knew what was coming. And here it was. The conclusion to each battle. Some were short like Erza's and Laxus's and I hope you liked the results of those two.

Now Ichigo's was one of my favourites. It took up most of this chapter, and we all know who made a guest appearance in this chapter. Did you like that guy? I hope I captured his personality right for what I'm going for.

Did you also like my reasoning for why Ichigo still stood his ground? Unlike Natsu when he took his trial in the future, Ichigo can stand up to Gildarts when he gets serious. He was completely outclassed as we saw, but he could fight. With Kisuke as a teacher and Zangetsu too, I couldn't see him retreating because of fear. He was taught how to fight by them and how fear would get him killed as we saw in the manga.

What happened to Levy I bet you want to know though? You will need to wait to next chapter though Gildarts seems to know what has happened. Can any of you guess?

For the record, that final Getsuga Tenshou of this chapter is that one Kuugo saw in Bleach. I'm sure all you Bleach fans out there know the scene.

As for Fairy Tail, did you guys read the new chapter? Tartaros has raised the bar and I can't wait till I get there in the future. Got one or two little chances to that scene with the Council planned but I have to give that Dark Guild props. Take out the Council first and hopefully they can cause some chaos to give them some cover despite being out in the open.

Anyway, till the next time. I've been Takei. Thanks for reading.


	14. The Ancient Stronghold

Go ahead. Look who it was. That's the answer you want to know.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or Bleach. Shame, it would be great if I did.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

**The Ancient Stronghold**

Gildarts sat opposite the source of his anger. Ichigo was lying on the ground nearby, his body placed carefully on the ground as to not cause him any more harm. Levy lay next to him, asleep from whatever Spell had been cast on her.

Laxus and Erza had taken their charges to their respective places and were keeping them company for the time being. The next task wasn't till dawn anyway so everyone had some time to rest.

He didn't want to rest right now though. Opposite him was the small form of his Master. And he was sitting there like he had done nothing wrong.

"Why?" He found himself asking that same question over and over again. "This was my test. Mine. Not yours. You had no right to interfere Master."

The Master returned his glare. "I have every right to. I am the Master of this guild."

"Oh really? Then did you interfere with Cana's? What about Mirajane's?" The silence was all the answer he needed. "What were you thinking?"

Makarov glared at him. "Did you not see your test? He had already failed. You should have ended it already."

"He passed," Gildarts said quietly. "He passed and had the right to continue on. AND YOU INTERFERED!"

Makarov took his Ace's anger without flinching. "It was a test and a lesson. To see how he would react under extreme conditions and to teach him the cost of facing opponents he isn't ready for."

Gildarts clenched his fists. "Extreme conditions?"

Makarov nodded. "The death of a teammate and the realisation it was your own foolishness that killed them. To learn that you can't always fight and sometimes, the best thing is to run."

"You wanted him to run." Gildarts couldn't believe his ears. "You really expected Ichigo to do such a thing? Do you not understand him ever a little bit? I've had few interacts with the teen and even I know he would never retreat if he believes he can or needs to win."

"But-"

"You made him think Levy died and that it was all his fault," interrupted Gildarts. "And you expected him to let me, the supposed killer, survive afterwards? Are you really that naive when it comes to him?"

Makarov stood up taller as he faced the man. "Now listen here. Killing is never the answer. And did you see what he did? He charged at you like a maniac, no regard for his own life. It was lucky you held bac-"

"I didn't." Makarov looked at him strangely. "I didn't hold back much."

"Then…"

"I shattered his bones and organs but they grew back. You saw that arm of his that I broke earlier? Healed within seconds. Broken ribs? Give him a moment and he's as good as new. Against someone like that, I couldn't afford to hold back. If I did, I would have died."

Makarov scoffed. "I don't deny the boy has power, but surely you exaggerate."

Gildarts grabbed his cape and threw it off, showing the Master the wounds from the battle. "See this?" He pointed at the scar on his chest. "I got this from his Kidou attack. The last one he fired before I broke his arm." Gildarts moved his hand to reveal the one by his shoulder on his arm. "This was by him at the end. A step closer and my arm would have been torn off."

Makarov made to speak but Gildarts cut him off.

"Also, I don't believe those were all his actions near the end. It was practically confirmed by whatever was controlling him. That person wasn't afraid to charge at me recklessly, just as long as I died."

Gildarts turned his head towards Levy. "That girl over there. Her supposed death that you created could easily have broken him and left him wanting only revenge. In that state, and from seeing how outmatched he was, why would he resist someone taking over if they promised that revenge he couldn't grab?"

Makarov scowled. "This is why I warned him about those missions from the Council."

"No you didn't," said Gildarts with a shake of his head. "You never warned him. You expected him to listen to what you tried to imply and to understand why you glared at him. How do you think Ichigo would have felt? Do you even ask yourself why he takes these missions?"

"For power."

The answer was so sudden that Gildarts couldn't speak for a moment.

"Haven't you heard the talks that Ichigo and Laxus share? The guild should have passed it on when that team was away. Even Levy joins in with those two every so often. Talks about gaining power so they can change things."

Makarov's expression hardened. "Now I may support people trying to get stronger but Ichigo and Laxus only seemed to believe that it will solve all their problems. That if they gain power, they can do what they want. I refuse to believe that way of thinking."

"And you believe that he is taking these Council missions in exchange for power, am I right?"

Makarov nodded. "Why else would he return to them? I have seen enough to know he doesn't do it out of a desire to kill but he still must do it regularly. He gets missions from them far more frequently than before now, meaning he is getting greedier and greedier for power. And now he was even willing to give up control of his body for the sake of it."

Gildarts took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "I refuse to believe that."

"What-"

"I fought Ichigo. When you fight someone who is strong enough, you begin to understand that person. Don't you agree with that statement Master? You allow all the fights in the guild because you understand it helps forge bonds between one another."

"Yes but-"

"I saw enough Master. He isn't that kind of person. I refuse to believe that is the reason, and I doubt it is the whole reason you distrust him too. Is it because of Ivan?"

A shake of the head was his response. "No. Ivan always wanted more and more power, but he was willing to attack even his friends if it meant achieving it. I acknowledge Ichigo enough to recognise that difference between the two."

"Then what is it?"

Makarov sighed. "An S Class Mage needs to be trusted. He had the power for years now. He could have taken it a year after Laxus if I had let him but I chose not to let him. I didn't trust him then, and I still don't now."

"But why?"

"Do you want to know who trained him Gildarts? The style of Kidou usage should be familiar enough."

Gildarts froze. "You mean Kisuke?"

Makarov nodded. "He joined about your time didn't he? Smart kid, and had great talent. But I could never completely trust him. Still, I made him S Class. He, like you, was one of our guild's golden boys. He was powerful and well liked."

"But then everything changed." Makarov rested his head on his hands. "Do you remember? One day, he just had enough and vanished. Said he was unsatisfied here and went in search of more power. Not for himself mind you, but he was always too smart. He wanted to know everything about Magic."

"Then one day, I heard a rumour. I disregarded it but then I heard more of them. News about the Council's new poster boy. A scientist who was revolutionising the Magical World with his inventions and rediscovering Magic people believed to be lost for good."

Makarov stared back at Gildarts, anger in his eyes. "But we both know what kinds of atrocities exist in this world, some of which were created by the Council in their search for peace. To the Council, lives lost mean nothing as long as the majority can live safely. And I can bet you that Kisuke was in the heart of it. He is simply too smart to not be."

"I don't know when he disappeared from the Council but I heard Laxus and Ichigo talking about him. He taught Ichigo at some point and that makes me worried about the teen. His mentor proved that he was hunger for more, and Ichigo is the same, I'm sure of it."

"You…" Gildarts couldn't find the words to express his anger. You don't judge someone by their teacher. You judge them on themselves.

"You understand don't you Gildarts?"

"Hell no." The Master's eyes widen as they took in Gildarts's anger. "I don't believe that. Ichigo isn't that kind of person."

"I see." The Master shook his head. "I am sorry you feel that way but it won't change anything. Normally, I allow my S Class Wizards to decide themselves on who passes but I cannot let Ichigo pass. I had hoped to convince you but as I haven't, I will need to pull rank here."

"Don't you-"

"Ichigo will not be passing, now or later." Makarov shook his head. "I knew it was too early to allow him into these trials. Maybe in a few years when he grows up some more."

"Do you understand how much you are going to alienate this kid? How much you must have already done?"

Makarov turned away. "I am sorry."

"No you aren't. Don't try and pretend you are. It's insulting."

"If it is any consolation, I do care for the kid." He turned towards Ichigo. "Everyone in the guild is my family. Even the ones who rebel against me."

With that, the Master left, leaving in the direction of where Laxus and Erza would be with the others. Gildarts stood there for a moment before he slammed his fist into a tree nearby, obliterating the entire thing in one blow.

Why? This wasn't right. Unfortunately, he wasn't the Guild Master here. He had to listen to the Master, no matter how wrong it was.

He settled down onto the ground, preparing to watch over the other two kids until they woke up. Then he would be forced to deliver the words he really didn't want to say.

He didn't notice the slight movement from the blue haired girl by Ichigo. Because of that, he had no way to know that she had heard every word of their conversation.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

Ichigo stormed along the ground ahead of him alone. When he had heard the news from Gildarts that he had failed, he had demanded to know why. What had he lacked? Was it because he failed to protect Levy?

It was right then that he noticed her, both alive and awake, and hadn't hesitated to hug the life out of her. But what happened? He thought she had died.

Gildarts couldn't give him any answers though. He just sat there and said sorry, anger in his eyes that wasn't directed at him. From the man's tone, he didn't want to fail Ichigo either. So why was he stopped from continuing?

They had met up with the others shortly afterwards where the Master had announced that the last task was unneeded since they only had one person who had the requirements this year. That had hurt. Mira had looked just as shocked and confused as he had, her eyes glancing at him constantly as she tried to work out why he had failed.

Even Erza and the others looked shocked but they knew there would be no point arguing. Laxus already tried that when he heard he had failed.

He left Levy with Laxus while he disappeared for a while, intent on finding some peace and quiet to think in. It led him to where he was now, one of the large gates of the Seireitei ahead of him. The high walls and gate did nothing to stop him as a single Shunpo got him to the top of them in moments. While from a distance the place had looked okay, closer up he could see the damage done to it. While a lot of buildings were standing, they weren't all whole. Walls were missing from sections while other houses had been completely collapsed.

This was the Seireitei? This was what he had assumed to be the old home of the Shinigami? It looked more like a graveyard.

As he wondered the streets, that impression hardened. There were swords all over the place, littering the ground with their blades. Bones were scattered around and he could see the remains of many Shihakushou along the ground. What happened?

He reached towards one of the swords before flinching and pulling away. For a moment, he could swear he had had heard a scream. It was almost like he was hearing the last moment of that Shinigami.

He reached towards another sword only to flinch again. Another scream. Only they seemed to be increasing now that he was aware of the residue Magic around him. It was like a hundred voices in his head all screaming in pain.

So he ran. He ran as far as he could, desperate in his attempts to escape the cries of the fallen Shinigami. They only seemed to increase as he ran, his path unintentionally leading him further and further into the Seireitei

As he got further in, pieces of white material joined the swords along with a mix of crosses and other kinds of items, including a large mix of weaponry. And the damage and the scale of things only got greater as he got closer and closer to the centre of the great city. He had no idea where he was going but his feet did. He continued his path, trying to block out some of the worst areas where there were hundreds of blades scattered in such concentrated areas. Some were by the remains of white cloaks which had to mean something.

There were even a few strange medallions along the ground at these areas. Something seemed to be telling him to avoid it, and he didn't bother arguing with that instinct. Finally, he got to what looked like the main complex, a single Zanpaktou guarding the entrance in the form of a rapier.

That was something else he had noticed. As he got further in, some of these Zanpaktou had remained in a Shikai state while others hadn't. Why? Did the sword perhaps stay in that form when the user died? He had been under the impression that it would have returned to its sealed form but perhaps that was only for exhaustion. Or maybe it was a sign of something else.

These swords seemed like the only sign that these Shinigami had lived. And this sword made it seem like its wielder was doing something of great importance. The last thought of the Shinigami in his Magic seemed to indicate he was trying to protect something. But what? What was behind this door? He slowly reached out to it and entered past it.

It led to a long corridor, a few doors and passageways leading off. He followed his instincts, heading up a flight of stairs and further up till he reached the top of the complex, an opening out into the air above. As he exited the building, he could see two figures near the edge of the roof.

He recognised one of them and that person raised his green and white striped hat in greetings.

"Ichigo. What a surprise to meet you here."

He knew it wasn't a surprise. Kisuke didn't get caught in surprises. He created them.

He took his attention off the man and focused on the other figure. He was very old and he could see the remains of a long beard on the man's chin. Scars filled his upper body and it was completely exposed to the elements. A severely scorched blade was held in the man's right hand, half the blade missing. The blade looked like it was barely usable with the end of it shattered.

The man's other arm was missing and it didn't look recent. He had two long scars along his forehead, both perpendicular to the other. Who was this man? And why was he just standing there, his body faced towards the rest of the battlefield. He hadn't said anything or acknowledged his presence yet.

"He's not really there."

Ichigo turned to Kisuke in surprise. "What do you mean?"

Kisuke gestured at the man. "This man is Genryuusai Shigekuni Yamamoto. He is the first and last Head Captain of the Seireitei. And he is already dead."

"What-" Ichigo rushed towards the man, examining him closer. He still hadn't reacted. But how could he still look like he was still alive after everyone else had turned to dust and bones.

"This man was probably one of the strongest Mages to ever exist in this world. He lived over four hundred years ago at the time of Zeref, and he was old even at that time. And while Demons did attack this stronghold, Zeref never joined them. If I had to guess, I would say he was afraid to face Yamamoto. And with good reason."

"Yamamoto is and has been the strongest Shinigami to ever exist. No one has surpassed him yet and trust me, there are a lot of strong Shinigami out there. Physical strength, Kidou usage, Zanpaktou power, he surpassed everyone. He is one of the Shinigami that gave them their reputation."

"He one day decided to create the Seireitei and even set up the Magic Council's foundations at one point. It's a bit tricky working out when he did with no one there to tell us and not many records about him."

Kisuke touched the man's skin and retracted his hand sharply. "And even after all these years, he still has all this lingering Magical Power. Power strong enough to hurt us if we touch him. It's why he is still preserved. His Magic is stopping the decaying process from happening."

Kisuke looked at Yamamoto's Zanpaktou. "And that there is the strongest Zanpaktou I have ever found record of. Ryuujin Jakka. A blade with unparallel control over fire. It could reduce anything to ashes if he tried hard enough. I doubt that Dragon Slayer in your guild would be able to eat flames as hot as his."

Kisuke knew of Natsu? Of course he did. He always knew more than he would let on.

"And his Bankai was even stronger. Zanka no Tachi made him almost invincible in battle if he even needed to use it."

"Bankai?"

Kisuke raised a fan that he had grabbed from his pocket it and hid a smile behind it. "Didn't I tell you about it? You didn't really believe that a Zanpaktou only had one release did you? No, Shikai is just the start. Bankai is the most powerful form a Zanpaktou can take."

"How do-"

"You learn it?" said Kisuke as he cut Ichigo off. "More meditation. Get your Zanpaktou to teach it to you. They will decide when you have finished training."

"I see." Ichigo let his gaze wonder back down to the battlefield. "What happened here?"

Kisuke let his had shielding his eyes, hiding the anger he felt from the sight of the Seireitei. "War."

"War?"

"One like no other. I once told you about the Quincy did I not? Well back then, Hollows and Quincy were just as common as all these Shinigami. Problem was that the Quincy and the Shinigami never got along well. It was an event years in the making but it eventually happened. The Quincy attacked."

Kisuke waved an arm out at the city below. "The walls of the Seireitei and the gates are undamaged yet all this destruction is inside. How? I don't know, but they found a way through. These walls and gates are more than that. They had Magic in them all those years ago that generated a barrier around the city. Anything that hit it was destroyed. So how did the Quincy get past?"

"They had surprise on their side. They were already attacking before anyone saw anything. It was hard for the Shinigami to organise a defence in that time. They withdrew everyone as far back as possible to try and make a stand."

"There was one problem. Ordinary, a Shinigami is stronger than a Quincy at the higher levels, or at least that is what this battle has shown. You saw those medallions around the city right? They were something the Quincy created specifically for the Shinigami. Our greatest weapon is our Bankai. So they invented a tool to steal that Bankai."

Kisuke looked sadly at Yamamoto. "His Bankai could have turned the tides. It was simply so powerful that only one man could steal it. Their leader."

"They fought here." Kisuke let Ichigo look around the area they were standing in. "Both leaders in the battle to decide the victor. Despite stealing his Bankai, the Quincy leader didn't use it against him. I don't know why but he instead chose to use someone else's Bankai. There was a medallion up here originally that I examined, trying to understand what had happened. And that was what doomed the Shinigami."

Kisuke shook his head. "Yamamoto must have destroyed the medallion, but the attack is done in a strange way. It can't have been held by the leader because it was crushed, not burned or slashed. It makes me think that maybe he had the choice to grab one of the medallions. I don't think the Quincy leader would have had a second medallion, and if you were fast enough, you could end it before it could be stolen again. But Yamamoto took this one, despite it not being his own."

Kisuke looked down the roof and easily spotted the rapier by the entrance to the building they were on top of. "That sword down there looks like it was guarding this door with everything it had. Who ever owned that sword must have been precious to Yamamoto, so it makes sense this was that Shinigami's Bankai, stolen specifically to make Yamamoto go after this medallion."

Ichigo looked at Kisuke curiously. "Isn't that a good thing?"

"No. He had the choice between his own and his friend's. If he had chosen to recover his own, he would have won. I am sure of it."

"I see." Ichigo continued to look at Kisuke curiously. "Why go into so much detail?"

Kisuke refused to look at him. "Sometimes the past can affect the future. Just remember that."

Ichigo nodded, unsure on the advice by taking it all the same.

"Now then." Kisuke gave him a smile. "I bet you are wondering how you even found this place? How did you ever know to go here of all places?"

"It did cross my mind," Ichigo admitted.

"That was Kidou." Kisuke's eyes seemed to sparkle in joy. "It is a brilliant work of art. It's coming from Yamamoto still, even in death, calling all Shinigami here. He made this place as their sanctuary and he sent out this Kidou to call them home. It was more effective when he was alive. Now it only works when you get close enough."

"A sanctuary?"

"This was the time of Dragons. Very few Shinigami could even kill a Dragon as they are extremely tough to all but those who were classified as Captains, but the barrier kept them out completely and Yamamoto was a good deterrent. Anyone in the barrier was safe from them."

Ichigo nodded. "So you have been here before?"

"Years back when I was still a Fairy Tail member. Now this place is a pilgrimage of sorts. Every Shinigami eventually visits the place at one point in their life, paying respect to the dead."

"So why are you here now?"

Kisuke's smile vanished. "You always were good at seeing the real reasoning in what I did."

Ichigo tilted his head, his foot tapping the ground as he waited.

Kisuke stepped towards him and patted him on the back as he passed. "I'm wishing you luck and giving you a warning. And an apology."

"An apology?"

"Warning first. You will eventually meet a strange man in a lab. I'm sure you will go there soon. Be careful. This man is crazy but he is almost as smart as I am. And he has fewer morals too. I know my limits. This man likes to go past his."

"And the luck is for there?"

"Yep."

"I see." Ichigo made sure to store the information he had just heard. It would be useful, he was sure of it. "And the apology?"

Kisuke didn't try and turn towards him as he spoke now. "You probably realise something is different about you, even if you try to play it off as being a Shinigami. You will learn the truth soon enough but I will ask you now to not think too badly about me because of it. I have only ever tried to help you, even if I have other reasons to do so."

"Is this about my fight with Gildarts?"

There was no response. Kisuke was already gone and Ichigo didn't bother going after him. He had an idea of what Kisuke was talking about. The man had probably been watching his fight with Gildarts and would know that he had an idea too.

But what had Kisuke done? And why did he think he would hate him because of it? And where was this lab? He had been to labs before on the Council's orders to shut them down but he hadn't heard of this crazy scientist before.

Something was coming soon. It looked like there would be a little more excitement in his life for a while before it calmed down, and he hadn't even been able to become an S Class Mage to deal with it. Still, he would take things one step at a time. As Zangetsu once said, never stop moving, and as Gildarts said, keep looking forward. He would deal with his problems the same way he had always done. By overcoming them.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

"HE DID WHAT?"

"Quiet," Levy snapped him. Laxus noticed half the group they were by had turned towards him in confusion.

"Sorry." The two slowly waited for everyone to turn away and to stop listening before continuing their conversation.

"Gramps really said that?"

Levy nodded. "They don't know I was awake so they talked more freely."

Laxus clenched his fists. "To blame someone because of others is wrong. Why not compare me to my father if he's doing stuff like this. Why pick on Ichigo?"

"I'm-"

"Sorry my grandfather is a bastard?"

"Yeah."

"Don't worry. I feel the same."

"Still…" Levy scratched her head in thought. "What can we do? I doubt Ichigo can take more of the Master. This has developed over his entire time here at Fairy Tail."

Laxus sighed. "I'll get him a break. I've been meaning to talk with him about this for a while now, and right now he needs it."

"A break?"

Laxus nodded. "With the increase in power for the younger members, he has to take more and more missions just to make the Council overlook the damages the guild is causing. So I'm going to get him away from the guild for a while."

"And you'll let him recover away from the situation that caused the problem in the first place," finished Levy. "I get it. You're letting him relax for a while to take his mind off things. How long do you think he will need?"

"I don't know," answered Laxus. "He could need a few days, a few weeks, or even a few years if he finds something he needs to do. I got a mission for him ready to take him away for a while and after that, it depends how long it takes for him to get back."

"So it will be our job to handle the damages while he is gone right?"

"No." Levy stumbled, turning to look at the older Mage in shock.

"No? What do you mean no? We can't let-"

"I know," said Laxus, cutting her off. "I'm waiting till Ichigo is away, and then I'm coming clean. The revelation should provide enough shock to make them think when on missions for the time being. After that, who knows."

"Do you think things will change when the Master learns the truth about Ichigo's actions?"

Laxus just shrugged his shoulders. "Honestly, I don't know anymore. I though he always would years ago but now? It could go either way. He could ignore it, pass it off as lies, or believe it. And even then, he may not do enough. Destroying two buildings instead of three may be enough for him."

Levy sighed. "Why does this guild stuff have to be so complicated? Why can't he just make the others stop?"

Laxus suppressed a laugh. He knew Levy knew the answer to her own question but the way she said it made it sound like it would be so simple to do. People like Natsu were hard to control though so telling him to do something didn't always work. He could ignore it or just forget it even. The latter was more likely with him.

They hadn't managed to learn much about other guilds on how they coped with limiting damages. Higher missions always allowed more because they were tougher but there was always an expected limit. When they had met Jura a few other times, he had commented on how while Fairy Tail had a lot of strong Mages in terms of raw power, other guilds like Lamia Scale had a more refined control over their Magic. It meant they could use either large amounts of Magic in certain areas or limit the amount they use in their attacks.

That probably was Fairy Tail's greatest weakness in his opinion. S Class Mages like Erza and Mira had a decent level of control that was needed but even they suffered from the effect of too much Magic sometimes. The more Magic you gained, the harder control over small amounts became. Still, they should all still have enough control to not do as much damage as they did.

He was going to be the Master one day. He would change things. Mages would spent time learning to manage their control and not just work on increasing their power. He would make sure only the ones who could manage that and set a good example would become S Class Mages. Ichigo was an example of what they should be like to him. Ichigo had massive amounts of Magic yet he kept a lot of it restrained when it was unnecessary. It still leaked out but at least it didn't cause huge amounts of damage.

Change was coming. He could feel it. Something was going to happen soon, and it would change things. He was sure of it. He just hoped whatever happened wouldn't cause too much destruction. And he hoped they would all come out of it okay.

* * *

**Protector Of The Fairies**

* * *

Chapter 14 done. Not as epic in my opinion as the previous two. The Seireitei was really more of a smaller thing though I guess you could compare it to the Sun Village that we saw recently because it is setting things up.

Now then, you all guessed very well. Was it that obvious? Really? I was almost tempted to think up something new but that would ruin what I had planned, though it was originally Gildarts that failed Ichigo, not Makarov. I guess my plan changed as I wrote because of what happened in when the two met.

So Laxus wants Ichigo to go on a holiday of sorts to recharge away from the guild. It'll be good for him, though we all know where this is going. If you don't, look at the timeline. That will help you work it out.

Next chapter is a calm one as well however if my memory is correct, it has what you have been waiting for since I started. Only one more week my loyal readers.

Anyone see the new Bleach chapter as well? I really can't wait to see what Ichigo is going to be capable of and I hope I can see more of the abilities of a certain few. It doesn't affect the story yet for a while but I need to know some things about people like Juushirou for later on. I really want to see what his Bankai is like.

Anyway, till the next time. I've been Takei. Thanks for reading.


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